The Hope in Tamers
by the-east-hunter
Summary: when TK is taken into the time of digmon Tamers, which is in fact twenty or so years after the events of Digimon Adventure 02, joins up with Takato, Henry, and Rika to save the worlds once again. Meanwhile, the old digidestined are still living and thriving, though none of them are the same since their friend disappeared, and their lives drastically changed. 02-03
1. To the Tamers

Two years.

That's how long since it had been. Two years since the world had hung in the balance once again. Since I had been to the digital world. Since I had seen Patamon.

If I really thought about it you'd think it wouldn't be that big of a deal, it's not like this was the first time I had been forced to leave Patamon, but to me it was different this time. Back then I had been young, naive, and half thought as I grew older that it had been no more than a dream I had thought up and Matt, being the good brother that he was, went along with. But then being with Patamon again... how was I supposed to say this? Losing Patamon this time had been like losing hope.

Which was ironic.

It hurt every time I thought about it. To make things worse the group seemed to be splitting up, tearing at the scenes. The original crew from so long ago, most had moved away or were at college, as for the 02 group... well they all seemed close, so he could only blame himself. Kari still tried to care for me, and despite how I felt about her I pushed her away, because she only made it hurt more. She had been there both times it had happened, and brought back those memories with full force.

I was trying to focus on my homework. I tried not to remember the time I had been sitting at this very desk and me and Patamon had fallen asleep. Suddenly a high pitched squeal emitted from one of my drawers. Curious, I started to go through them, trying to figure out what piece of electricity could do this, meanwhile it rose in a crescendo.

My hand hesitated above the final drawer. I knew this drawer. I had promised never to open it. Yet my hand moved as if with a mid of its own and revealed the green digivice within, the small screen alive as it hadn't been in years. I picked it up and held it in my hands, trying to figure out why it was squealing.

As my hand came in contact with it the light grew and I stood up desperately wanting to release my grip on it but too eager to see what was going to happen to put it down. As the light overtook the room I felt it change in my hand, but couldn't see what form his digivice now took, as light overtook my vision, until all that was left was black.

Several moments later a young man walked into the room, saying something about how he was home for the weekend from college, only to find an empty room.

* * *

The day had passed in such a blur. The strange pull that had come over their Digimon, meeting the man with the lighter and the sun glasses, then the tiger Digimon that had defeated all of them. Guilmon had finally digivolved into Metalgrowlmon. After talking with his friends and making sure Guilmon got back to the place in the park okay, he just about felt like collapsing in his bed.

However, as Takato came up to his doorstep, the thought vanished from his mind. Right in front of his house was a boy about his age, maybe a little bit older. He wore a slightly rumpled short sleeved hoodie that was green and white, a light yellow undershirt on underneath. He had tan cargo shorts on and green tennis shoes. A white hat lay on the ground a foot or two from him, leaving his blonde hair splayed out onto the ground

"Mom, Dad, something happened!" His parents rushed down the stairs, both in their pajamas.

* * *

She had heard the words through her comms. Somehow they had gotten through, in between the screams that wrenched her gut. Her partner had already broken down, unable to take it, but she steeled her nerves. After all that she had seen in her time, she could manage to get through this.

_'they're just data, they can't be your friends.'_ She knew Yamaki was lying when he said that, and she knew that he knew he was lying. He knew better than that. She had to keep in the tears in order not to cry for him. After everything, you'd think he'd still remember all he had learned about friendship.

* * *

Waking up had been as if rising from a deep lake, slow but effortless, and left a lethargic feeling in my bones. I opened my sky blue eyes as the sun rose over the horizon, blinking in the unfamiliar surroundings. I sat on a couch in a small living room; a coffee table had a hat sitting on it, my hat in fact.

I was still wearing the clothes I had on when my digivice had… I shot up, head reeling as I remembered what had happened. I glanced through one of the windows. It didn't look like the digital world, which was definitely where I had expected to go. My hand went into his jacket pocket, and it came in contact with the smooth surface of something cool and hard.

When my hand came out it held an object that was unfamiliar in my hands. It was smaller than I was used to holding, but the energy that it practically emitted was familiar to me, and I immediately knew that this silver device with the yellow-orange buttons and detailing was my digivice. I pressed the buttons, but there was a sad little tug in my stomach when nothing appeared; not an egg, not Poyomon, nothing. What if he was gone forever? No. I couldn't think like that.

I gave a sigh and looked up at the ceiling, as if in prayer. What had I gotten myself into this time? The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs caused me to look up. A boy about my age or even a little younger was coming down the stairs, talking into a phone.

"You don't to go on patrol? Yes, I know its 6:30 in the morning, but- fine, I'll go alone." He hung up and put the phone away before he noticed that I was sitting up. "Oh, you're awake! Are you okay?" the brown haired boy rushed over to me and I scooted back a little, shocked by his excitement. I noticed the goggles on his head and my mind drifted to Tai and Davis.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine." I awkwardly scratched the back of my head, smoothly pocketing my digivice back into my pocket. "What's your name?"

"Takato. What's yours?" He asked.

"Takeru, but you can call me TK." I gave him a smile.

"Wow, it's good to see your eyes open! We just found you passed out on our doorstep, are you okay?" I slowly nodded, taking in the information. So obviously I was still in Japan, but why?

"Where am I?" I asked the burning question.

"Shinjuku." He replied and I nodded. I had heard of Shinjuku, a nice small town, though from glances out the window it looked significantly bigger than I had heard. "Do you remember how you got here? Or ended up passed out?"

"No." A half-lie. Takato gave a small frown.

"That's horrible! My mom and dad should be waking up soon, we'll talk to them about it. You can probably spend the rest of the day with me after that!" He said enthusiastically and I just nodded. Takato seemed like a nice kid, it would be neat to be friends with him.

* * *

**Okay, so this is a new story. I've had this one for… several years really. I thought you guys might enjoy it. I know it's late but this is obviously spurred on by the fact that they're having a new DIGMON ADEVTNURE series coming out in 2015. Can't wait! So please follow and review and stuff if you like it, tell me if you want me to continue this thing! ;) till next update**


	2. Hello Guilmon

Takato's mom had decided to take the situation that was me over while his dad began to ready their bakery for business.

"Your parents run a bakery?" I asked while I followed his mom. They were going to take me down to the nearest police station, an idea I was not fond of, but it was necessary in order to carry on the whole I-have-no-memory plan. As we headed down there I couldn't help but to gape at some of the things people where carrying and doing. Had I been in my room too long brooding? Or maybe technology progresses faster than I thought.

"Yeah, it's pretty neat, we get to have the left over bread. My dad used to run a noodle cart before he met my mom, then he shut down the cart and instead turned to bread." I nodded, amused at Takato's enthusiasm with his family's business.

We chatted for a little bit longer, nothing that was too personal, that was out of the option for a conversation between two almost strangers. The police station ended up being super boring. A few men talked to me and asked me questions, most of which I just answered 'I don't know' or 'I can't remember' to. We had to wait in the front room for a little bit after that. More like a very boring half an hour.

"We've searched the data banks." Everyone's head lifted as one of the men came out of the room. "We can't find any missing people with the name Takeru Takaishi. We even went back to missing people reports from up to 16 years ago, but we can't find anyone that matches your profile, if we went back any farther, well, you wouldn't have been born. Surely you can't be more than 16 years old?" I shook my head as a reply, as I was, in fact, sixteen years old.

After that they let us go, and on the way back to Takato's house we had a much needed talk.

"So what are we going to do with TK?" Takato asked his mom. She seemed to mull over it as we walked into the bakery.

"I don't know Takato. An orphanage is probably the best way to go…" A cold hand gripped my heart at that. This can't be right, I can't be here only to become an orphan.

"Why don't we take Takeru in?" Takato's dad walked up to us, washing him hands. He had an apron on, flour covering all of his clothes, even in his hair. "I mean, he can share a room with Takato or sleep on the couch, besides, it doesn't feel right to let him go with no memory."

"That sounds like a great idea! Doesn't it, Tk?" Takato turned towards me.

"Um, yeah, I think that would be awesome, if you're willing to have me." Takato's face lit up.

"Come on, I'll show you around the town. A few of my friends want to meet up at the park, I can introduce you to them!" He took my hand we started on our way to who knows where, and my heart became lighter.

* * *

"Okay, don't freak out." Takato said as we walked into what appeared to be a less popular part of the park.

"I won't, um… why exactly would I freak out?" I asked as I eyed the pathway that was going to a mildly destroyed cement shelter.

"Heh, well, you see-"

"Takato-mon!" A babyish voice exclaimed and my eyes turned to see a red figure burst out of the bushes and tackle Takato to the ground.

"Woah, buddy, calm down." I was shocked to see what appeared to be a red dinosaur with black markings. The digivice in my pocket vibrated a bit, though I didn't want to give away that I had one, so I only had to assume that it was some Digimon, though it wasn't one I'd ever seen before. I unconsciously took a step back. The Digimon looked up from Takato and met my eyes, giving me a sniff.

"Takato-mon, who is this?" Takato seemed to just remember that I was here.

"Oh! TK, this is Guilmon. Guilmon, this is TK." Takato was eyeing me carefully ass if waiting for me to freak out. Guilmon got off of Takato and walked up to me, sniffing me a bit more.

"He smells funny." He commented and I slowly put my hand down to pat his head. I heard more than saw Takato relax.

"Come on you two, Kenta, Kazu, and then others are waiting for us just a little further." We hurried and started to follow Takato. The Digmon, Guilmon, obviously was Takato's, and now that I was mentally kicking myself for not guessing that he was a digidestined.

Kenta and Kazu turned out to be pretty cool guys, both of them apparently old friends of Takato's, along with a girl named Jerry and a few other classmates. The entire afternoon was spent mostly playing with Guilmon, another unfamiliar Digimon named Calumon showed up.

It was pretty smooth until Yet another Digimon (seriously, how many were there here) showed up and told Takato troubling news.

"No!" Takato yelled. "This isn't a game, okay? You guys can't come with me!" Guilmon was digging with… Digmon's drills. This was certainly new, they didn't have something fancy like that from when he was from. That's right, I wasn't entirely positive, but his latest hunch was that he was in fact several, if not many, years into the future.

"Guys!" I yelled at the other kids. "Just let him go and help his friends." The others eventually gave in and let him go. I looked down the hole sadly. I'd love to go with him, but without Patamon… I'd just be dead weight.

* * *

"We did it!" Takato yelled in success as the snake Digimon started to disappear into data.

"This is not over, Tamers. While I may fall, my brethren with rise up! How arrogant you are! You will need all four of you to defeat the others!" It started to laugh before it was completely gone. Rika turned to Henry and Takato.

"What does he mean 'all four of you'?" Takato shrugged.

"Maybe he means that there's another kid with a digivice out there." Henry suggested, and the three of them shared a look. They had a feeling things were not gonna be the same from here on out, for multiple reasons.

* * *

"Hey dad, I'm home!" Henry called as he entered his house, carrying Terriermon in order to continue the guise that he was just a toy. His dad looked up from whatever it was that he was working on, pushing his glasses up a bit.

Henry's dad was the epitome of a nerd. His face was longer and his cobalt blue hair was the same color as Henry's own. His build was fairly skinny and his eyes were behind wire frames. He was currently working on some paperwork, well, on several stacks of paperwork.

"Oh, Henry, you're home." His eyes landed on Terriermon for perhaps a few seconds longer than Henry would have liked, but his dad did that every time, so he just assumed that his dad's favorite Digimon was Terriermon or something, seeing as he was one of the creators of the game. "I hope you weren't down in the subway today, apparently there was a gas leak or something."

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it." It always amused Henry what people came up with whenever something unusual (read: Digmon related) happened. His dads eyes landed on his arm, which sported a cut that Henry had obtained during their battle.

"Henry, come over here, let me take a look at that." Henry had to resist an eye roll. His dad had a thing about cleaning up their every little scrape they ever got. He walked over to his dad who opened up his bag and pulled out some bandages and rubbing alcohol. The cute wasn't that bad, not too deep, but it was a little long.

He winced as the alcohol was rubbed on, the cotton ball coming back pink, before his dad wrapped it in a bandage. The story goes that his dad had originally wanted to be a doctor, had for his entire childhood and even part of his adult years, but had found a knack to coding games and had switched career choices, though Henry wasn't sure how willing that change had been, counting on his enthusiasm for playing nurse with them.

"Thanks dad, sorry, I fell down some stairs." His dad nodded in understanding, buying the lie, hook, line, and sinker. Henry scooped Terriermon back into his arms and headed to his room, just praying he wouldn't run into Suzie before he got there.

* * *

**Here you go, the new chapter (I know, that was pretty fast for me, but a certain someone gave me an amazing review and I just had to) I am going to be changing some characters a bit, you'll find out why later, so for now try and imagine some of them a little differently if I end describing them a bit different. They still should be at be moderately the same with few exceptions. Well, I hope you enjoy this kind of slow chapter, but I had to get all this boring introductory stuff out of the way, hopefully it will pick up next chapter, until then! ;)**

**~the-east-hunter**


	3. Enter Henry

My first few days in Shinjuku were relatively uneventful after that. I had mostly been keeping to myself, feeling too down about my empty digivice. I had occurred to me not too long after arriving here that it should at least have my digi armor on it, but even that appeared to be gone, but I also had no clue how it was supposed to work.

Today I had decided to go to the park alone - Takato was helping his parents out at the bakery – and I was taking time to think things through. So far this place had been weird. I mean, I could understand Takato having a Digimon, it's not like I had never seen them on Earth, but I hadn't seen him go to the Digital World. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, maybe there just a lull right now or something, there had been times like that for us those years ago, but I still found it disconcerting.

There was also the whole thing about how Digimon appeared to be a card game here, an idea that puzzled me to at all times. I wasn't sure how that was possible, maybe someone from Odaiba had come up with it after all those events with Miotismon and stuff.

"Are you going to play?!" I started a bit and looked down. There was little Calumon, looking up at me. That was another thing, this little ball of joy had been following me around since I had met him. I had asked Takato who his partner, or tamer as he was determined to call it, though I didn't know why, and apparently he didn't have one.

"Um, no, not today, I was just thinking that I'd hang out alone." I replied, scratching the back of my head. Calumon's ears retracted into his head, making him look smaller.

"Oh… I'll be alone with you!" He exclaimed and they came right back out as he hopped onto the bench, I emitted a sigh from my mouth.

"Yeah, okay." Calumon hopped onto my lap and leaned his head against my chest. A smile wormed its way onto my face. "Hey, Calumon?"

"Yeah?" He said, looking up at with those huge eyes of his.

"Why do you like me so much?" According to Takato, Calumon pretty much went the wind blows, so it was weird that he'd hang around me so much.

"You feel a lot like me!" He exclaimed, and then tilted his head. "Well, more like you used to or something, I'm not quite sure, like when there's an echoey thing in a big tunnel and you can kinda hear something even though it's not there anymore." He stood up on my lap and placed his hands on my chest. "Like right here." He said, and I looked at him in surprise.

I wasn't really sure what he meant like that, but it was pretty deep for the little guy. Plus it was pretty hard to take him serious with his little hands and huge ears and big eyes. I couldn't help but to place a hand on his soft head.

"Heh, thanks, I guess." He gave me a smile before his ears perked up and he looked around.

"What is it?" I asked, looking around as well. Fog was appearing in the park, which was strange since it had been a pretty sunny day and it was around noon. "What the heck is happening?"

* * *

"Sir, we have another wild one." Riley said into her comms as she started to tap away on her colorful keyboard, her partner working back to back with her. "It appears to be attempting to bio-emerge."

"Well stop it." Yamaki's voice was rough, and for perhaps the millionth time Riley thought about how different he sounded.

"Sir, it's too far into the process, I don't think we can."

"Well try anyway." The command was harshly barked and the used to be pacifist rolled her eyes as she followed through with the command. The anomaly was already halfway through bio-emerging, by the time that they started to attack it, it would be long gone. She hoped those kids could handle it. She knew Yamaki had a dislike for them, but he had his reasons, and her reasons for hating should be the same, but the loss had never hit her the same way it had hit him…

* * *

"Holy cow, is that an Ogremon?" I exclaimed as said green figure stepped out of the fog. The way it was glaring at me made it easy to tell that there was no chance it was the nice one I had met on my first trip to the digital world, Leomon's old nemesis. Calumon's ears were small once again and he climbed up onto the top of my hat, holding on for dear life as I stood up to face the monster.

"He doesn't look happy." Calumon said, and I could feel him trembling.

"Terriermon, go for it!" An unfamiliar voice cried, and though it was the vocal chords of a stranger, I felt Calumon relax slightly, and could only assume that it was a friend, or at least not an enemy. My Digivice beeped like it had when I had first met Guilmon, but I didn't want to pull it out, I hadn't even told Takato I had one, there was no way I was going to let the stranger hidden in the fog know.

"Bunny Blast!" A voice cried and a green ball of energy hit the Digimon, causing it to change the direction it was facing. A Terriermon appeared in front of it, reminding me of the one I had met one on my trip to New York with Kari, and then that had all been blown into this entire showdown with Cocomon and Willis and everything.

I watched as the Terriemon flitted around the Ogremon, landing attacks and being too fast and small for it to land any of its own. Before I knew it Terriermon was just blasting it in its face before it collapsed and turned into bits of data, the strange fog lifting at the same time.

"Great job, Terriermon!" I could now see the Digimon's partner. He was about the same age as myself with navy blue hair much like Jo's, a bright orange vest sticking out along with a bandage he had wrapped around one of his arms.

"That was too easy, Henry!" The Terriermon exclaimed and Calumon jumped off of my head.

"That looked like fun!" He said as he went over to Terriermon, who just about the right size for him to jump on, which he did.

"Hey Calumon, what're you up to?" The boy, Henry asked, getting down on his haunches so that he was closer to the small Digimon's level.

"I was playing with TK!" Henry then looked up and made eye contact with me, very awkward eye contact on my part, and I of course lost by breaking it, deciding instead to momentarily turn my attention to Calumon and Terriermon. When I looked back up he was walking towards me.

"So, you know Calumon?" He asked, glancing behind him for a second to look at the purple and white ball of joy.

"Um, yeah, we met a few days ago." I looked down and saw a hand sticking out. I paused for only a brief second before taking it.

"I'm Henry, and you are?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm Takeru, but everyone calls me TK." His eyes lit up with recognition.

"TK, right, you're the one that's staying with Takato, right?" I blinked for a second before replying.

"Yeah, you know Takato?" He nodded.

"We hang out a lot, partially because he's a pretty nice guy and partially because Guilmon and Terriermon get along so well." Ah, so he knew about Guilmon too, well, of course he did, but my thinking process had not been at its best since I had gotten here, there was just so much to take in.

The rest of my day was spent mostly chilling out with Henry, Terriermon, and Calumon, which was a big step up from sulking. I decided to stay away from asking why a Digimon had randomly appeared out of nowhere; since I was a supposedly amnesic I didn't want anyone to get suspicious. Henry turned out to be really nice, and Terriermon was a huge goofball.

Although there was something about Henry, maybe it was the way he talked, or that way he walked, or something else, but there was definitely _something _that reminded me of _someone. _I couldn't quite put my finger on who, but it was there all the same.

* * *

**Okay, well, that wraps up this chapter! I decided to do something on my own, that was not part of an episode, so I hope you guys like it. BTW, when do you guys think the Digimon Tamers movie happened (NOT the trailmon one, the other one) it's very relevant. Thanks for reading, see ya later ;)**

** ~the-east-hunter**


	4. Why do I have to go Camping?

"Camping?" I asked, as if the concept was foreign for me, and Takato just nodded as he pushed a bag into my arms.

"Yeah, I'd thought I'd surprise you." Takato said, shouldering his own bag. "Plus I knew there was no way you'd go if I didn't make you." I sighed. Of course. It was really nice of Takato to want me to be more social and everything, but I thought it was a vain cause. I had been keeping my Digivice a secret, which made me feel guilty, but I didn't want to disrupt Takato's life, and maybe even mess up the current chosen children or something horrible like and he'd screw everything up, so for now it was a secret.

"I don't know Takato-"

"I already got the okay from Ms. Asaji, you have to come." I sighed, something I had been doing quite often since arriving here. A little while later I was getting wrapped up into this elaborate plan on how to distract Ms. Asaji so that they could get Guilmon on the bus.

"You've just got to keep her attention for a few minutes." Kazu assured me as some of the other kids made a wall around the red dinosaur.

"What do I say?" I asked, and He just shoved me in her direction.

"I dunno, something!" He exclaimed, and then I found myself face to face with the teacher herself.

"Um, hi, Ms. Asaji, right?" I asked, and the brunette turned to me, and then froze. "I'm TK, well, Takeru, they kid who's staying with Takato?" I wracked my brain for something to say. "Ahm, thank you so much for letting me join in and stuff and I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun…" From the corner of my eye I say Jerry and Kenta poke their heads out of the side of the bus, Kenta giving a thumbs up and Jerry making her sock puppet 'bark.' "Anyway, thanks."

For a second I thought maybe I'd broken her, she was just staring at me, and it got to be that it was unnerving. Finally she looked up.

"Class, get loaded up." Her voice was shaky, unlike the strong voice she had been calling out to said class in earlier. "I- I have to make a phone call."She dashed off, and I could have sworn there were tears in her eyes.

"Dude, what the heck did you say to her?" Kazu asked, appearing beside me.

"…Nothing." I said dumbly.

* * *

Ms. Asaji turned only stopped when her class was out of view, then she pulled out her phone, and called a number she was only supposed to use in an emergency. She believed this constituted as such.

"Hello?" Her voice dropped to the low pitch of the voice, the deep baritone that she had once known so well, even when it had still sung the notes of a soprano from a teenage boy.

"Da-" There was a deep clearing of the throat on the other line. "Mr. Matsuki," And the name felt wrong on her lips, even as desperation entered her voice. "…I need to talk to you about TK."A resigned sigh answered.

"Ms. Asasji, what do you need to know?" The man asked, as if all the importance of the simple question meant nothing to him.

"Is it him?" She asked, the question like a plea.

"Ms. Asaji, I know it looks a lot like him, but it could be a coincidence, you know how long it's been, and most of his pictures were burned or something like that." Mr. Matsuki said with a steely voice, which was uncharacteristic to anyone who knew him, especially her.

"But he even has the same name-"

"He's an amnesiac." The words couldn't have hit her harder if they were a boulder, thrown her more off her axis if the world suddenly stopped moving, and the man's voice had cracked as he uttered them, as if the steel had been all that was keeping him together, and saying the truth was the hardest thing ever.

"W-what?" She waited for the laugh she knew well, for the man to say he had fooled her, but it never came, instead…

"Kari." He said the word tenderly, and it sounded so right on his lips and so right on her ears, a name that she hadn't heard in, well, she had stopped counting the days. "TK is amnesiac." And that's when the tears came. She curled up on the ground, water streaking her face, sobbing into the phone, hearing the coos of a friend.

"N-no, Davis, it can't be true, i- it just can't." She didn't even notice she had said one of the many names that she hadn't tasted on her tongue for years.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth."

"He could be lying." She said hopefully, but she was a logical person, and knew what he'd say before he said it.

"Can we really take that chance? Tear down what we've spent years building up on an amnesiac boy that may or may not be him?" She quieted her sobs

"Y-you're right for once." She stood up and dried her eyes. "I'll do what you've been doing. I'm sorry for bothering you, Mr. Matsuki." Her thumb started to press the end call button.

"Wait." His voice gave her reason to pause. "It was nice to talk to you, Kari."

"You too, Davis." And then she was left alone with the beeping of a dead line and dried tears.

* * *

I loaded onto the bus, finding a spot near the back next to Takato and across from…

"Henry?! I didn't know you were coming too." I looked at the 'toy' that on his lap. "…And Terriermon, I see."

"Wait, you know Henry?!" Takato exclaimed.

"Yeah, I met TK a few days ago." Henry said.

"Why doesn't anyone ever tell me these things?" Takato gloomily said, and Henry and I shared a laugh.

"Oooooh, where're we going?" I looked at my backpack in surprise and Calumon popped out, gliding onto my lap.

"Hi Calumon!" Jerry said, poking her head from the seat behind me.

"Wow, everyone's coming, we are going to party!" Kazu exclaimed and Kenta nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, hey, Ms. Asaji's back." Kenta commented, pointing to the front of the bus. Her eyes were red and it looked like she'd been crying.

"Sorry class, I just received some very bad news." She said, her voice more than a little shaky. She sat down and the bus finally roared to life, the small group of friends, I was hesitant to think that, but that's what we were more or less becoming, friends, and I smiled and the streets rolled by and the sound of talking and bickering filled the air, and I smiled.

* * *

**WOAH! Big reveal (not really a reveal but still) I hope you enjoyed this one, I like writing the middle part a ton! Any comments or suggestions or flames or comments or – did I already say that? Anyhoo, thanks for reading, I'm loving this story.**


	5. Nightmares

When we arrived at the campsite Ms. Asaji excused herself as the class started to put up the tents.

"I call a tent with TK!" Kazu declared, grabbing one of my arms.

"Me too!" Kenta said, grabbing the other one and starting to drag me away. I blushed lightly, touched that they had taken such a liking to me.

"You guys know I can walk, right?" I asked as I dug my heels into the ground, trying to stop them from yanking my arms off.

"Yeah guys, you might hurt him." Takato butted in, worry in his voice. I have him a reassuring smile as the two boys released me, which they had started to do at my first complaint.

"Aw, TK's just a pansy." Terriermon teased from his perch on Henry's shoulder.

"Terriermon." Said in a reprimanding tone.

"So, where are you guys sleeping?" I asked.

"We're just sharing a tent together. We figure since the tents fit three we can have Guilmon sleep in ours." Henry said, gesturing to the half set up tent behind them.

"We should probably set up our tent." Kenta said, looking at our progress on our tent. Kazu had unzipped the bag, that was it.

"Yeah." I agreed. After we finished up pitching the tent, half of which was done while Takato, Guilmon, Henry, and Terriermon watched, Takato and Henry said they were taking their partners down to the slow moving river they had seen.

"I wanna go!" Calumon exclaimed, coming from somewhere in the trees.

"Of course you can, Calumon." Takato smiled at him.

"Let's go, TK!" Calumon said, turning to me.

"I don't know…" Calumon came up to me and grabbed my leg, trying to drag me by pulling on my ankle, which wasn't effective but was incredibly cute.

"Okay, fine, let's go." I gave in.

"Yay!" He exclaimed and we headed in the direction Henry had said the river was.

* * *

The rest of the camping trip was fun, if not boring, and ended without incident. Well, for me anyway. On the second day while I was hanging out with Kenta and Kazu Henry and Takato battle another Deva, which I was oblivious to until they came into camp and dragged us away. Guilmon and Terriermon were stuck as Growlmon and Gargomon.

I remember one time I had asked Patamon how that whole thing worked, de-digivolving right when it was convenient. It seemed like they couldn't purposely go below rookie level, or didn't want to, but whenever he was Pegasusmon or Angemon he just kinda did it on his own. He couldn't explain it to me, it was something he just did, like instinct, though now I was thinking that it might have had something to do with the fact that the first times he did it he was in the digital world.

The rest of the night we talked while they did handstands, Calumon normally making Guilmon fall by tickling his feet, which didn't help because of the fact that he didn't have great balance in the first place.

Then there was Ms. Asaji. I had noticed that she kept stealing glances at me in an almost secretive manner, and right around that time I had started to do the same. There was something about her that was familiar, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Of course I had never met her, but still…

By the time I got home, or I guess got back to Takato's house, I was just glad that I got to sleep on a couch with cushions and a house with air conditioning. But despite that my rest was far from restful.

* * *

I was at my Middle School, standing alone in the hallways, which were deserted. I heard a voice call my name, and I turned my head to try and see who it was. My feet where in sand, and the salty smell of the ocean told me I was at the beach.

When I looked up, the sky seemed to rip open, and a pink light came out of it. Kari appeared in it, reaching out towards me.

"TK, where are you? I need you?" I reached my hand towards her, and tried to hold hers, but when my hand closed I was in space, and when I opened it an empty tag from my first venture into the digital World floated out.

"Where's the crest?" I wondered, before I remembered that we had given them up in order to protect the world. Yeah, it didn't exactly work. Then someone grabbed the crest, and when I looked up, it was Calumon.

"This is just like me." He said, inspecting it. "But it looks like it's missing something." He looked me in the eyes. "What's it missing?" Then crest started to glow, and I was enveloped in light. When it died down I was surrounded by all seven crests, glowing. My crest, hope, disappeared, and then slowly, one by one, each of the crests lights ceased to shine, until the only one that crest of Light was still shining.

"TK." Kari's voice called, and it was full of pain and sorrow, she sounded like she was crying.

"Kari, where are you?!" I yelled into the blackness.

"TK…" And then the light of her crest, like all the others, blinked out.

* * *

"Kari!" I jerked awake, sitting straight up right, sweating, and my hand reached out towards something that wasn't there anymore. Tears were streaming down my face, and I heard footprints come down the stairs. There was Mr. Matsuki, in his pajamas.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" I asked in worry, realizing I must have yelled in my sleep.

"No, I was awake anyway, TK, couldn't sleep." He said as he came over to the couch, sitting down on the end of it.

"Did you have a bad dream?" It sounded so childish when he said it that way, but I nodded.

"Yeah…" He looked at me sympathetically.

"It's fine, when Takato was younger, he had night terrors. They were horrible! But you know what always helped him? A nice mug of hot cocoa, you know, the kind with the little marshmallows in it?" I nodded, feeling a lot younger than I was right now. "Sit tight, I'll make you some."

Mr. Matsuki went into the kitchen to make the hot chocolate. I sat there in an awkward silence, thinking about my dream. Where the heck had all that come from? I didn't understand any of it, well, maybe bits and pieces, but how do you put together a puzzle with only half of the pieces?

"Here's some fresh hot cocoa, Matsuki style." I looked up to see Mr. Matsuki smiling at me as he handed me a mug of hot cocoa.

"Thanks, Mr. Matsuki." I took it and took a small sip, careful not to burn my tongue. "It's really good!" I said, a little bit surprised how far it surpassed any other hot cocoa I'd ever had.

"When you're done leave it on the coffee table" He said, and headed towards the stairs. "Oh, and TK?"

"Yeah?" I asked, looking up.

"I'm sorry." He said, and his eyes dropped to the ground.

"What for?" I asked.

"Nothing." He replied, and then went back up the stairs, leaving me holding the hot cocoa, staring dumbly at the spot where he had been.

* * *

**Well, here I am are, here you are, look at us, with this fanfiction, and another chapter. Wow, it feels like it's been maybe a day or so since I last posted. Weird. Anyway, sorry about this chapter, I'm a little unsatisfied by it, but I already wrote it all, then deleted it all and re-wrote it, so this is the better version, trust me. Hope you enjoyed it, or at least didn't hate it ;) I'm really excited for the next chapter, so I hope you are too!**


	6. Mr Wong

"Hey, watch where you're going!" A boy shouted as a man rammed into him, causing him to crash to the ground. He looked up just in time to see the man's retreating form before he turned to his cards, which were now spilled onto the pavement.

"Huh?" He asked himself as he picked up an unfamiliar card. "No, this can't be, this is too many!" He had set up his deck perfectly, with just the right amount of cards and everything, it had taken him _weeks _to get it just right! Maybe if he headed to the playground he could ditch it on some loser.

* * *

"I don't want it!" Kenta exclaimed. "Here, you take it." He shoved the card at Henry, who took it with a confused look on his face as everyone else left.

"O-kay." He said, looking down at the card.

"Well that was rude." Terriermon said. "You might as well try it out, a card's a card!" Henry shrugged, and then started to swipe the card. As soon as he started to it became jammed, like it wouldn't go in, and then started to glow. He took it out in surprise and saw that the card had changed. Now it was the blue card.

"What the…" He knew one thing for sure, he was going to have to go to his dad about this.

* * *

My days had fallen into more or less of a routine, but today, today was different. I woke up long after Takato had left and his parents had opened up the shop, so I was mostly alone. My only companion was the thing that woke me up. My Digivice, was beeping.

You'd think it would be a different sound. It was a new model after all, but the beeping was one that had followed me my whole life, and in a way, for a second before I checked my digivice, I had a brief, calming feeling, of home. But I knew I had to see what it wanted, since it had been silent since I had arrived here.

A holograph screen came out of it, an arrow twirling around, as if attempting to lock onto a signal, before it paused, pointing to somewhere in the city. It only took me a few seconds to get some clothes on and leave, something was out there for me, and I needed to get to it.

* * *

Mr. Wong came home to his normal household. His wife greeted him, and he gave her a hug, like always. He hugged his youngest, like always, and gave his other two kids a kiss on the forehead, like always. But one of his sons were missing, not like always, and when said son came out of his room asking for a favor, he took with slight trepidation, knowing that change had been in the air for a while now.

He hooked up the wires to the computer, setting up the scanner like he had been taught by people he tried not to think about anymore. He turned to his son, his eyes only dwelling on the Terriermon for a split second before focusing on his son. It figures it would be _his _son that became a digidestined.

"Okay, let's solve that mystery of yours." He said, and his son pulled out a card. Mr. Wong inspected it briefly, turning it over in his hand, trying to see if he could recognize the handiwork, and he had a hunch, but put it in the scanner. He had to be sure. 1's and 0's started to appear on the screen.

"What do those mean?" Henry asked.

"Nothing yet." The continued until they stopped, and Mr. Wong's eyes widened slightly. It was true, it was them. A small gasp sprung out of his mouth.

"What is it, dad?" Henry asked, but Mr. Wong stood up.

"It's nothing, just a bunch of meaningless data." He left the room, but it was more like he was distancing himself from the ghost of two old friends.

* * *

Rika, Takato, and Henry were running across town, searching for the origins of the mysterious blue card, and it turned into a major wild goose chase, but eventually they found Jeramie, the boy that had originally found the card.

"Where did you find it?" Henry asked.

"Just in the city, by the electronic department, why?" He asked, but Rika stepped in.

"You're lying about something, spill it." She said, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a bone chilling glare.

"Ah, well, I did find it a weird way. A man bumped into me, and then it was suddenly there." He explained.

"What did the man look like?" Takato this time. "Was he tall, short, fat skinny?" Jeramie shook his head.

"It all happened so fast, I don't remember much." Takato looked down in defeat.

"Well, what do you remember?" Henry persisted.

"Only one thing, he was wearing a really long blue jacket, and it had yellow paw prints on it."

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in the city, living in a small, humble apartment, was a thirty something year old man, hanging up on a door behind him was a long blue jacket with yellow streaks and paw prints. He was typing away busily on a computer, when he got a call. He glanced at the call ID, he didn't know why, only one person would be calling him, only one person had stayed in contact with him.

"Did you get it to him?" He asked the question quickly, picking up where their previous conversation had been left.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it got to one of them." He leaned back casually in his chair. "Thanks for helping me out with that, I mean I'm better at using computers, but not nearly as good as you are."

"Not a problem." Silence filled the line for a few seconds.

"Are you even sure that they are what we think they are?" the brunette in the apartment asked into his phone.

"Well, no, but my readings having been coming back mostly positive, and in a few more I should be able to say I'm 100%." The brunette nodded at the words.

"Good, I'll probably talk to you later tonight. It's not like I have anything else to do."

"…have you heard from any of the others?" The brunettes eyes dropped.

"No. I'll see you later." He hung up and looked at the ceiling, as if it could tell him how it had come to this.

* * *

The sun was setting and I was still chasing my digivice across the town. Whenever I thought I was right where whatever I was looking for should be, the direction suddenly changed. After hours of searching, I had narrowed it down to somewhere in the Park. I went to one of the more abandoned areas, and then my Digivice started to let out a stronger beeping, and I looked up to see what it was I had been chasing.

In a small clearing sat one object. It was as white as freshly fallen snow, pure soft looking. It was a small, down feather. But this wasn't any ordinary feather; this was a feather I had seen so many times in my life. Okay, maybe not this particular one, but more like what it came from. Or who it came from I should say.

"Angemon." The name escaped my mouth as I walked towards the feather. So did this mean that Patamon was okay? I scooped it up into my hand, but I only felt it for a second before it started to glow and change shape. My eyes widened as I stared at something I hadn't seen since I was seven or so, something that was long gone.

It looked worn and a little rusty, missing an essential piece in the middle, the chain it was held on coming apart, but I would always recognize it. It was my Tag, albeit without my crest, but it was my tag all the same.

"What the heck is going on?!" I yelled at the sky, as if it was holding the answers, keeping them from me, purposely driving me mad.

* * *

Mr. Wong was on the roof of his apartment building, doing Tai Chi to calm his nerves, but his mind had different ideas, and chose to wander about wherever it pleased, including subjects he had managed not to think of for years.

'_It had been so simple back then.' _He thought to himself, images or his and several faceless people working feverishly around a computer. '_We just wanted to see them again. We failed.' _He took a deep breath in, and let another deep breath out. '_I lost her for that.' _He shook his head slightly as he changed positions. No. Don't dwell on the past. Just, don't.

'_What's happened to us?' _He wondered for the umpteenth time, and a lone tear slid down his cheek.

* * *

**So, I know there wasn't a ton of TK in this chapter, and I hate to tell you this, but in a few chapters that will probably happen again. This chapter was more of the kind that was focusing on the 'mysteries' of the adults than on the kids. Hopefully I can fit him in more next chapter, but I did give him something he'll need in a few chapters , so that's good ;) Until next time**

** ~the-east-hunter**

**P.S. I'm such a troll, betcha thought Patamon was gonna come in, huh? :)) Nope, that can of worms is something I'm opening up later ;)**


	7. Vajramon and Pajiramon

**So, I'd like to start off by saying thanks to all of you. Your reviews are amazing, and they're what keep me going. I also love you guest reviewers, they are actually one of my favorite things in the world. Anyhoo, on with the story.**

** Oh yeah, and if you can, picture Mr. Wong more like Joe (I know, big spoiler right there, but I thought it needed to be said)**

* * *

Mr. Wong sifted through his pockets, gradually getting more panicked. He seriously hadn't…? He wouldn't…? Yup, he did.

"Ugh, I left my phone at the house." He took one last look at the bus. "I should probably go back and get it." He said, smacking himself internally. What was wrong with him recently? He usually was Mr. Prepared, even when he was younger he had a huge bag filled with emergency supplies for goodness sakes.

He hurried back the way he had come, deciding to cut through the Park in order to get back to his apartment faster. However, a voice caught his attention. A purple monster wearing gloves was talking to someone. A smaller, higher pitched voice spoke up, talking back to it. He turned his attention to the Terriermon, a very familiar looking one…

He raised his eyes to the person standing just behind the Terriermon, and made eye contact with eyes the mimicked his own. The hair that was the same shade as his, though his personality was so much more confident than his had been when he was his age.

"Yoo hoo, Earth to Henry?" Terriermon said, looking up at his partner and waiting for a response. "Geez, what are you looking a-" Terriermon had turned to look at Mr. Wong as well, and now was in a similar position of shock. Mr. Wong could only look. After all this time, he had finally see it. He had known there was always a chance that Terriermon _was _just a toy, but now, watching him move and talk…

"Hey, what're you looking at? I'm talking over here!" Impmon yelled indignantly at the now frozen group. "Geez, you have horrible manners, even with your master, you little lap dog. What a disgrace to Digimon."

"Did you just say Digimon?" Mr. Wong said, although he hadn't meant to. There it was, the word was out in the open now, and Mr. Wong could fully realize the truth. "You are one, aren't you?" Impm on turned to face the older man.

"Huh, yeah so what?" He raised his hand and a flame appeared. "Maybe you need a bad-a-boom!" He threw it at Mr. Wong, who raised up his brief case in defense, older muscle memory coming to the forefront of his mind.

"Dad!" Henry yelled, his eyes wide with horror. Mr. Wong looked back over to Henry, but his eyes passed his son to another boy standing just behind him, a familiar boy with a white hat and blonde hair…

"Maybe you need another one!" Impmon said, another flame dancing on the tip of a single finger. Before Mr. Wong could look too closely at the boy he had to turned his attention to a searing pain in his shoulder, causing him to fall onto his knees, his other hand reflexively coming up and holding onto the burned area or skin.

"No, Dad!" Henry yelled again, panic in his eyes. "You need to get away!" Terriermon, the ever faithful companion, stepped in front of Mr. Wong protectively, glaring holes into Impmon.

"Leave him alone!"He said, and Impmon looked at him in shock.

"You're defending this guy?" He questioned, gesturing to Mr. Wong. "Whatever, I'm outta here." He jumped into the bushes, away from the scene.

"Mr. Wong, are you okay?" Takato asked, stepping towards him. A hand appeared in front of his face, obviously there to help him up. He took it and as he looked up his eyes widened again. He was an exact carbon copy of him. How would that be? It had been years.

"Fine." He turned his face to his son. "Henry, we need to talk." Seriousness dripping from his voice. Henry's eyes widened.

"No Dad. I'm sorry, but I can't right now!' He ran over and picked up Terriermon, dashing away.

"Um, it was nice to see you Mr. Wong!" Takato shouted as he ran after Henry. The blonde kid, the one that would haunt his dreams for years to come, stayed for a second longer than the others, staring at his face with a look of almost confusion.

"B-bye Mr. Wong!" The words fumbled out of the boys mouth before he dashed away. Mr. Wong stood there for a few minutes, just staring at nothing before snapping out of his reverie. He had to follow Henry and make sure his son was okay.

* * *

"Hey, are you okay, TK?" Takato asked me as we waited on the bus. We were going into the city to see if we could catch the man who was responsible for the card. Henry had been quiet the entire time and Rika was turned away from us, her body language seeing no.

I had met Rika about five minutes earlier, who had said, and I quote 'just don't get in my way' before her head away from me.

"Huh?" I turned to Takato. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. You're dad just reminded me of…" _Joe _"…Someone." I replied, giving him a smile. The bus slowed to a stop and we got out and started walking the streets of the Electronic Department.

"Hey, where'd you get the necklace?" Takato asked as the sun caught on my tag. My face went a bright red as I nervously stuffed it down my shirt.

"Um, I found it. In the park." Takato looked at me, not convinced but not going to fight about right now, since Rika didn't appear to be a conversationalist and Henry was lost in his thoughts about something, probably about his dad finding out about his secret.

"Thanks for coming along, TK."

"It's not a problem, thanks for letting me come along. I know I don't have a partner, but I'm glad to help you guys chase down the mystery of the cards." I replied with a smile. We sat down on a bench that faced the area where Jeremie had said he had found the card.

"Do you think he's actually going to show up?" Takato asked, he seemed to really eager at the possibility.

"Probably when pigs fly, Sherlock." Rika sharply retorted back. We sat there in relative silence, the tense air making conversation feel unwelcome. The thing that broke it was the sound of static. I jerked my head up, the sudden change of noise catching my attention.

All the electronics where having some kind of interference, static on the screens of TV's, radios emitting white noise, even phones refusing to work.

"What's going on?" Takato asked.

"They're coming!" Terriermon yelled, pointing up to the sky. Four head jerked back as we looked up to the sky, watching as it rippled, like when a stone hit water on a calm pond. Then the sky itself seemed to open up and two figure's jumped out, bring with them a foggy covering. The ground shook as two big figures hit the ground.

"Uh, are they usually that big?" I asked. I know it seemed really wimpy of me, but if you didn't count the Ogremon a week or so ago, I hadn't seen a Digimon in at least two years, it was hard to remember how immense they could be.

"Only the nasty ones." Henry replied. "Get him, Terriermon." Henry ordered, and Terriermon seemed more than happy to go after the pursuit of the one that resembled a bull.

"What's going on?" A familiar weight appeared on my head as Calumon joined out group. The two Digimon, the other one resembling that of a giant sheep, started to wreck havoc - jumping on cars, eating the electronics.

"I don't think Terriemron can handle both of them!" Henry shouted as he whipped out his digivice, holding it up. I watched as the screen that had appeared when I found my crest appeared, but this time the arrow was pointing in the direction of one of the Digimon, and I appeared to be scanning it.

My hand subconsciously reached into my pocket and touched my digivice. That looked really useful, most of the time we had relied on our Digimon to know everything about the Digimon we came across, or Izzy to tell us what he knew about them with his laptop.

"Pajiramon," He read aloud as the picture of the sheep like Digimon appeared. "…a demon beat Digimon, Ultimate level!" the picture changed to the black one that looked like a bull. "Vajramon, same type, same nasty level." He declared. The Pajiramon bleated, the sound so strong that it sent all of the citizens unconscious, falling to the ground with a look of pain etched on their faces.

We covered our ears, our hands providing just enough of a cushion between our ears and the airwaves from Pajiramon that we stayed conscious, though when I took my hands off my ears they were ringing.

"Wow, these guys are nasty." Takato commented as he took his fingers out of his ears.

"I bet their Deva's too." Henry said as he observed them, walking around as if they owned the town. "I don't think they're stabilized." We watched as Pajiramon ate CD's, Vajramon eating wires.

"I bet they need to eat the digital equipment in order to stabilize themselves." I said, and Takato nodded next to me.

"Then I guess we'll need to ruin their meal for them." Rika looked at them, defiance coming off of her in waves. "Come on, Renamon." The air behind Rika blurred and a yellow fox like Digimon appeared, the look in her eyes reflecting Rika's. I couldn't help but to stare for a little bit, I had never seen a Digimon like her, which was kind of strange since I had been all across the Digital World… twice.

"Let's do this, Rika." She said.

"I'll take meat head, you can take little bo beep." Rika said, and Henry nodded, both of them in game mode.

"Okay, let's go." Both of them took out their Digivices and selected a card. I eyes them, curious what they were doing. Both of them swiped the card through, and as they did a light came out of their Digivices.

"Digi-modify! Thor's Hammer, activate!" Henry shouted.

"Digi-modify! Crystal fire, activate!" Rika yelled.

"Yeah!" I turned my attention to Terriermon, who was now holding a massive hammer, which seemed out of place taking into account how small he was. My eyes widened. This was new, then again when my Digivice changed the first time I could do Armor Digivolution, so I really wasn't one to judge.

"Taste this you glutton!" Renamon said as she stood suspended in the air, a kind of blue fire glowing on her fists and on her feet, and then she charged in his direction, striking him across his face. Terriermon swung his hammer, slamming it down on the back of Pajiramon's head. Both of them casually turned around to see what had hit them.

"What?!" Henry shouted.

"We didn't even make a dent!" Rika said in disbelief. A sense of foreboding made itself known in my stomach, maybe these guys were too high for Renamon and Terriermon's level.

"Take this!" Terriermon said, attempting to slam the hammer onto Pajiramon again, but she head butted him, and his body was flung one way while the hammer took off in another direction. The small bunny like Digimon landed with a dull thud onto the ground.

"So you're the pathetic little bug that answers to the whims of a human?" Pajiramon said as she but one of her hooves onto Terriermon's small body, digging it in. "Tell me, scum, what is your name?"

"None of your business!" Terriermon answered.

"And you?" Vajramon asked Renamon.

"You won't remember it after the beating I'm going to give you." She said, piercing him with her eyes. Pajiramon picked out Terriermon, holding him in her fist. He looked like a small toy in her gigantic hand. I frowned, this wasn't going well at all.

"Uh-oh, they don't look happy." Calumon said.

"No, they don't." I agreed.

"Let him go!" Henry yelled, his voice sounding angry, but when I looked over at him, I saw the beginning of fear edge its way into his gaze.

"I can't do that." She said as she squeezed her hand around his form a little tighter.

"We're wasting time!" Vajramon said. "We were told to crush the Digimon that are servants to humans and load their data." Pajiramon nodded, and then threw Terriermon into the air, taking out her weapon, a crossbow, for the first time.

"You should feel honor to have your data loaded by a Deva." She said as she sent an arrow in his direction.

"No, Terriermon!" Henry shouted, and on my head I felt Terriermon cower a for a little bit before a red light flashed for a split second. Henry's digivice came to life, emitting a screech and a light that overtook him, and the light seemed to come from somewhere in the air as well, where Terriermon was.

"Terriermon, Digivolve to…" I looked up towards the light, and I could of sworn that in that light I could see his data being stripped from him and rewritten into a new form, but the light was so bright that it was hard to be sure of what I saw. "Gargomon!" He shouted as the light died down and he came down firing bullets in direction of Pajiramon.

"Pants." Was the only thing I could think of to say.

"I know, right?" Takato said from beside me, I smiled back.

"Ack." Pajiramon said as she put her arms up around her head to protect it from the assault of bullets. He landed onto the concrete with a smug grin on his face.

"Are you going to Digivolve?" Vajramon asked as he took out one of his midnight black swords. "I'd hate to destroy before I saw that."

"I won't need to." Renamon replied.

"What did you say!" He shouted as she jumped into the air, spreading her arms out.

"Diamond Storm!" She shouted as diamonds showered onto his head. Vajramon twirled his sword, successfully annulling the attack.

"Surely that is not your best." He goaded her.

"Diamond Storm!" Was her only response, which was once again successfully blocked.

"Ahahaha, dance you sheep!" Gargo happily said as he fired at Pajiramon's feet.

"This is becoming tiresome." Pajiramon said. "Vajramon, stop fooling around and destroy her!" She shouted at her companion, who was laughing as he blocked the multiple Diamond Storms from Renamon.

"Speak for yourself, I'm having a blast!" He said.

"He's toying with her." Rika said with mild disgust. It occurred to me that she really cared to Renamon, even though she seemed to prefer to keep a cap on her emotions. Next to me Takato was looking at his own set of cards before handing one to Henry.

"Use this, I think it'll give Gargomon enough of an edge to end this." He said, and Henry nodded before taking it.

"Digi-modify! Hyper Speed, activate!" Gargomon started to run towards Pajiramon, but she raised her front hooves and then slammed them onto the ground, causing a mini earthquake, making Gargomon fall.

"I. Have. Had. Enough!" She shouted and pullout her crossbow again, loading it up. "Stay a while." She fired her arrows, pinning Gargomon onto the ground. In the background Renamon was still attacking Vajramon with no result. Pajiramon readied more arrows, aiming at Gargomon's chest.

"No, Gargomon!" Henry yelled.

"It's my job, and it's the least I could do to rid the world of this pest." Pajiramon replied, her eyes colder than the arctic. Vajramon aimed to cut off Renamon's head, but she lithely jumped and landed softly onto the smooth side of his sword.

"Calm down, beef cakes." He raised an eyebrow.

"Feisty one, aren't you?" He commented.

"You have no idea." She replied. Pajiramon ran over to Gargomon, kicking him with her powerful hooves.

"Leave him alone!" Henry shouted, and Takato handed him another card.

"Here, try this one."

"Are you sure? That last one didn't do that much good." I looked at the card with worry.

"I'm just trying to help." Henry took the card, and with a little trepidation gave it a swipe.

"Digi-modify! Rock armor, activate!" Gargomon became, stone, like a statue, but as Pajiramon hit him he just started to crack. "Not good." Henry said.

"None of me other cards even _look _useful." Takato said as he sifted through them.

"What about the blue card?" I asked, the situation becoming dire. "It's gotta do _something _useful, right?"

"I guess." Henry took out said blue card, only sparing it a brief glance before swiping it through his digivice. "Digi-modify! Blue Card, activate!" A light came out of Henry's digivice… and shot into the sky.

"Well that was disappointing." Takato said, looking up in the direction the light had gone. Pajiramon aimed her crossbow at Gargomon.

"This has been fun, but you really must go." She fingered the trigger.

"NO!" The word ripped its way from Henry's throat, echoing through the air, full of pain and hurt, but there was another voice that had said the word at the same time. A figure slammed into Pajiramon, and the arrows were shot, but harmlessly hit a nearby building.

"What the-" Pajiramon went to look at what had took her by surprise, and her eyes landed onto… Mr. Wong.

"Dad?" Henry said half in surprise, half in horror. Sure enough, there was Mr. Wong, facing the Pajiramon. He looked at her glaring, like he just couldn't take the thought of her destroying Gargomon, who he had just seen was alive for the first time five minutes half an hour ago. There was also a bit of 'oh crap I was living in the moment and now I'm in a situation I might die from' expression on his face.

"Pathetic human, get out of my way." Pajiramon reared up and slammed her hooves into his chest, several sickening cracks rang through the air as he was flung onto the ground, his glasses landing a few feet away from him. Mr. Wong gave a cough, and blood came out in a dribble from his mouth.

"Dad!" Henry yelled, and a red light shot up into the sky, coming from on top of my head. '_You're just like me_ 'Calumons words rang through his head. Henry;s digivice started to go crazy, and Gargomon glowed.

"Gargomon Digivolve to…" The light spread over the street. "Rapidmon!" **(A/N too lazy to describe him) **He shot around, firing at Pajiramon.

"What?" She said as he whizzed around her.

"How do you like that?" Rapidmon asked. "This one's for Mr. Wong!" He shouted as he hit her in the head, and she face planted into the side of a building. Rapidmon readied his guns again. "Goodbye, Pajiramon, thanks for playing." She disintegrated into data, and Vajramon did as well, Renamon landing from a well placed kick. Slowly the people around them started to wake up.

"Dad!" Henry raced towards his dad, Terriermon, once again a rookie, landing on his shoulder. He kneeled down next to him, his hands hovering over him like he didn't know where to put them. "Dad, are you okay?" The rest of us, Rika, Takato, and I, headed over to Mr. Wong as well. Calumon had left.

"H-Henry." Mr. Wong groaned and his eyes opened a bit before he fell into a coughing fit, flecks of blood coming out as well. His breaths were coming out short and painfully, his eyes scrunching shut as if that would block the pain.

"No, Dad, stay with me." Henry gripped his dad's hand, which weakly held his back.

"We need help, please!" I shouted to the people around me, Takato helping me in my attempt to grab the attention of the disoriented people. Rika was the only one that had her wits about her, and pulled out a phone, no doubt calling 911.

In a matter of minutes an ambulance arrived, taking Mr. Wong away. Henry fought them, trying to get in with his dad until he mentioned he was his son, in which case they let him in, and then they were off, the alarms going as they sped towards the hospital. The three of us were left standing there, on the streets, Mr. Wong's blood on the ground.

"We should head to the hospital." Takato finally said.

"I think goggle head over here's right for once." I nodded.

"Yeah, Henry will need all the friends he can get."

* * *

Compared to the pain in reality, Mr. Wong gladly welcomed the bliss of the blackness, but he didn't just let the world become black, because he dreamed.

In his dream he wasn't the older man with four kids, a wife, and a busy job. He was a younger kid, pre-teen, full of hopes and dreams. He was standing in a lush field full of swaying grass and flowers, the tree line nowhere in sight. His eyes landed on the only other figure in the area. It was a white and purple monster with a bright orange tuft of hair.

"Gomamon!" He ran towards the creature, who had previously had his back turned towards him, but was now turning towards him.

"Jo?" He said when he saw the boy. Jo picked Gomamon up in a hug, and tears started to pour out of his eyes.

"I missed you so much." He sobbed in his fur, Gomamon, who was also crying, patted him on the back. "I-I saved someone, I was reliable, I thought of you and I saved someone."

"Jo, you're such a pansy." But the words had no bite as they were said in between sobs. "Jo, are you okay?" Gomamon suddenly asked. Somewhere in the mess the two of them had sat down and Gomamon took a few steps away from Joe to get a better view of him. His chest was blossoming a bright red that soaked through his clothes.

"T-the pain medication must have worn off." He said as he winced, feeling the pain.

"Pain medication? Jo, are you okay?" Gomamon asked. Were they only able to talk through their link for the firsts time in twenty years because Joe was practically dying?

"I-I'm fine." He panted out, but the lush field was darkening and starting to fade, and so was Gomamon. "No, Gomamon, don't leave me!" He reached his hand towards him, but he seemed to be a million miles away.

"I'll see you again Joe!" He shouted back, and the words echoes through the void. "Even if it takes twenty more years, I'll find you!"

* * *

Mr. Wong jerked awake to the sound of beeping machines and tear stains on his cheeks.

* * *

**Yeah, plot twist, totally went off from what happened in that episode ;P I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter, but it's way longer than any of the others. Hopefully more of the chapters will be this long, I'm tired of feeling like I'm not putting 100% into this stuff, you guys deserve my 100%. As I always say, I love your reviews, they make all this more than worth it!**

**~the-east-hunter**


	8. Hospitals are Stuffy

**Wow, your reviews for the last chapter were AMAZING! Thank you all, so much, this is really awesome. Ayelet, I'm glad you're enjoying this and like how it's going. Tudyjr, I'm glad you're enjoying this story! Thanks for giving it a try! WOW544, sad endings are what I live for. MacDreamy, you're ideas do hold some intrigue, I'll have to think about them. As for the bond with Calumon… well, I have some ideas for that, but it's mostly going where ever the wind blows. AUehara-san, you're awesome, I love your reviews. Lightus of the Light, thanks, m8.**

** Sorry, I've been meaning to do that for a while, now, onto the story.**

* * *

"Dad!" I watched as Henry ran into the room, a mix of eager and anxious. We had just been told that he was stable enough that we could visit him, but he might be a little drowsy from the pain medication. They told us that he had multiple broken ribs, one of with that had started to punctured his heart, and the hours of surgery had been setting the ribs back into the right place and removing it as carefully as possible, without killing him.

Henry's face had gone white at that part, and he had taken his eyes off of the Doctor and steadied his breathing, the technique to calm himself down reminded me of what Cody would do, calm his breathing to calm his mind, apparently it was important for martial arts and stuff. But I also remembered what Yolei would do in such situations, and even though I wasn't sure if we were good enough friends to do this, I reached my hand over and started to rub his back.

His breath hitched for a second and his body went rigid, but after a few seconds he leaned into my touch, taking in the comfort. Now we were all heading into the room that we had been waiting to go into all day. Takato and Rika had called their parents to tell them that they couldn't be home right now. We decided to let him go in alone, and see his dad in private.

Meanwhile, in the room, Henry entered saw his dad, lying broken, riddled with bandages, his breathing laborious.

"Dad, are you awake?" He asked, his voice a whisper. Mr. Wong stirred, and his eyes managed to open.

"Henry, you and Terriermon are okay." He said, and Henry started to cry again, but a small laugh bubbled out of his throat.

"Of course we are, thanks to you. You should be more worried about yourself." Henry sad.

"Henry's right." Terriermon said, and Mr. Wong changed to look at his sons partner Digimon.

"You saved me earlier, it was my way of saying thank you." He said, and Terriermon gave him a little hug. His face became serious. "Henry, I haven't been completely honest with you. The other day when you made me scan that card, the signature on it wasn't meaningless data, it was a signature I knew almost too well."

"What?!" Henry exclaimed.

"It appeared to be a combined effort of two people I used to know. The double sided K, Koushiro and Kamiya." Henry took the words in, taking a deep breath.

"How did you know them?" He asked, and his dad looked away from his eyes.

"I- I'm sorry, Henry, I can't tell you that right now."

"Why not?!" He asked, seeing no reason why there had to be secrets between them.

"Probably a similar reason why you wouldn't tell me about Terriermon." Mr. Wong petted said Digimon before looking up to look Henry in the eyes. "To protect you." The conversation ended then and there. Henry pulled up a seat next to the bed and sat down. After a little while of silence the conversation changed several times to less contentious topic, though the tenseness persisted in the air.

* * *

After we got a chance to say hi to Mr. Wong and thank him most of us didn't see much reason to stay around. Henry would have stayed, but his dad was determined that he go home and tell his family everything that had happened. Well, not everything, more like a believable lie that would calm them down. Takato needed to go back to his house and at this point Rika didn't see any purpose in hanging around.

"Hey, Rika!" I did my best to caught up to the girl, but she had a nasty long stride.

"Oh, it's you." She said it like I was some kind song she couldn't get out of her head and it's only purpose was to annoy her.

"Uh, yeah." I sweat dropped. "Takato said you're really good at Digimon, you know, the card game." I started, and she turned to me. I guess that grabbed her attention.

"I'm not just good, I'm the best." She cooly replied.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you could teach me?" I looked at her hopefully. I had felt so useless during that entire battle, I couldn't even help with the cards. She looked me up and down, surveying me.

"Follow me to my place, I have some spare decks there." She replied and picked up her pace. I widened my eyes in surprise. I hadn't been entirely sure she'd say yes. "Are you coming or not?" She shouted over her shoulder. Realizing I had been lagging behind I hurried up behind her.

In a matter of minutes we arrived at her house, a rather scenic place that had a very traditional Japanese look. I ended up spending longer than I thought I would.

"Okay, so I'm going to use Gargomon…" I looked up at Rika, carefully watching her face, but she just gave a slight nod. "…and then have him attack, using the digimodify…" I fanned through some cards. "…Digmon's drills." I looked back up at Rika. She carefully surveyed the cards, then an accepting smile slowly spread across her face.

"I have to say, Bucket Hat, you're not too shabby."

"Bucket Hat?!" I said in mock appall. "And I thought we were friends." The afternoon had actually been a lot of fun. Rika had taught me how to play Digimon, and then after that we had mostly just talked while we played through a few rounds of the game, Rika always winning. Around three Rika's grandma had come in and given us some snacks.

Rika opened her mouth to come back with a no doubt sharp retort, but first the sound of her front door opening stopped her.

"Rika, honey, I'm home! Sorry I was a little later, I had to visit an old friend of mine!" A female voice called, and Rika's eyes widened. She hurried to her door leading to their garden and opened it, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt, shoving me outside.

"You have to go, Bucket Hat." She hissed. "I can't let my mom know that I had a boy over, she'll start getting… ideas. Like that I'm becoming more girly or something."

"W-wait, am I supposed to jump the fence or something?" I asked.

"Yes!" She replied before slamming the door. Slightly shocked, I headed back to Takato's place. I had noticed that despite everything she had seemed a little tense, I had thought it was because Renamon was missing, I guess there was more to it than that.

* * *

Mr. Wong's consciousness came in waves, to be more specific it came in waves he couldn't control due to the pain medication. So when he heard the door open he was too tired to open his eyes to see who it was, but he assumed it was his son. But then when a delicate hand, smooth and soft, definitely not his wife's but definitely a girls, grabbed his hand, there was little more he could do than hive it a squeeze as he felt his consciousness leave him. The last feeling he had before the darkness overtook him was a gentle kiss on his forehead.

It might have been a few hours later, or even a few minutes later, when he came to again. The room was exactly as it had been when he had closed his eyes last, and he dared to think that it had been no more than a dream, until he looked at the nightstand next to his table.

Resting on top of the papers was a bag with a note resting over it. Careful of his stitches he moved so that he could pick up the card. When he did it revealed the symbol on the white shoulder bag, a red cross.

Sorry about your mishap!

It was my turn to carry the bag ;P

The signature on the note was a kiss mark, pink lipstick that smelled like strawberries. He smiled a little to himself. He couldn't believe she still remembered that argument from years ago, when she had meant little more to him than any other 'popular' girl.

"I'll forgive you." He whispered to himself, even though she couldn't hear his reply.

* * *

I was walking back to Takato's place when I Digivice started to beep again. I pulled it out and the screen with the arrow on it came up again. My heart rose and adrenaline started to pump. There was something for me again. I had to wonder if it would be my crest this time, since last time it had just been the tag.

I dashed through the park, running past the kids sitting playing their card games, jumping over little kids playing in the dirt. Something was pulling to me this time, and I could've sworn whatever I was searching for was calling to me.

"Hey, Chumley, what bring you this way?"

"Sorry, Kazu, gotta run!" I replied as I 'lightly' shoved him out of the way. I approached a lazy river and the screen disappeared. I heard Kenta and Kazu coming up behind me.

"Hey, Tk, what's wrong?" Kenta asked, and he placed a hand on my shoulder. But I just kept staring a little further up stream.

"What'cha looking at?" Kazu said, following my gaze.

"Wait is that-" Kenta started, but couldn't finish it.

"Patamon." I breathed out as my eyes stared at the white with orange stripes egg slowly making its way down stream.

* * *

**Woot! Patamon is (kinda) coming in! Yay! This chapter was mostly setting things up for the next stage, but overall I thought it wasn't that bad. It's way shorter than the previous one, but hopefully the next one I can make a little longer. Sorry, I've been super busy and I wanted to make sure I got something out for you guys, cause you're totally worth it! ;) please review and stuff!**

** ~the-east-hunter**


	9. Taomon

**Hey guys, I'm back. I decided I really like the whole 'address your reviewers' thing, so here I go again! Hey, Digi-fanCapp, Welcome to the party, I'm glad you like it! (yes it is pretty sad now that I think about it) **

**Ayelet, hey, so you're having a hard time figuring out TK's POV? Sorry about that! **

**You (cool name) you'll find out. *laughs maniacally***

** Guest, it's awesome to see you. I feel like I should tell you how much I love your review, especially since you're a guest. All shall be revealed in time. **

**Auehara-sama, thanks for the review! I love your input, you should never be afraid of insulting me, as long as you don't force your opinions and stuff on me I really love hearing that kind of stuff, like, really, I love it a lot, that's some of favorite kind of reviews.**

**WOW544, I think a lot of people thought that. **

**Lightus of the light, you know I super love you, m8 ;)**

**MacDreamy, you actually helped me decide how to start this chapter through your review!**

**So, thanks, y'all, I'll get on with the story now! (if you really hate this, tell me, and I'll stop doing it.)**

* * *

"What is it, Terriermon?" Henry asked. Terriermon was facing the window, his ears lifted. Terriermon had this ability to sense or hear things really far away, Guilmon could kind of do it, but Terriermon was better at doing it over long distances.

"There's a new Digimon." He said ominously. Henry lifted his head from what he was working on.

"Really?" He got up from his chair. "Do you think you could find it?"

"Henry, are you questioning my abilities?" Was Terriermon's reply.

* * *

"So, does this mean you have a Digivice?" Kenta asked. I nodded before shaking head in an effort to dry it a bit. Yeah, I had jumped into the river and was now had Patamon's egg. I wringed out my soaked hat.

"Yeah, I… found it this morning." Great, apparently I was turning into a compulsive liar. Now would be the best time to tell the truth, but…

"Sweet!" Kazu exclaimed.

"I don't think any of the others actually got an egg." Kenta said, looking at the object roughly the size of a bowling ball that I held protectively on my lap. "I mean, I know Guilmon just randomly appeared to Takato, and I can't see Rika nurturing a baby Digimon."

"Henry said that Terriermon came out of his computer." Kazu added. It made sense, the first time I went to the Digital world we met our Digimon when they were In-Training, and when the second set of Digidestines got their Digimon they were already Rookie level.

I looked down at the egg with a loving gaze. I felt like something had clicked into place, and I felt whole again. I would protect him, just like last time when he had sacrificed himself for us and had turned into an egg I would wait however long it took for him to hatch.

There was a violent rustle from the bushes and I jerked my head sideways along with Kenta and Kazu.

"It's over here!" A high voice called which I recognized was Terriermon's as he emerged from the bushed. Behind him came Henry, Takato, and Guilmon, who all looked fairly winded so they must have run the entire way.

"Um, hey guys." I gave them a little wave as all of their eyes landed on the egg.

"Takato, Henry guess what?! TK found a Digi-egg!" Kazu exclaimed.

"A… Digi-egg?" Takato repeated uncomprehendingly. Terriermon came up to me, looking at the egg.

"It's a Digi-egg alright." He confirmed.

"Digimon really come from egg?" Henry asked in surprise. "So, does this mean that's Tk's… partner?"

"Yeah, TK found his Digivice earlier today!" Kenta provided.

"Cool, now you're a Tamer like us!" Takato said with enthusiasm. I gave a bit of a shy smile. I only had one thought: _'I live a life of lies!'_

"I came from this?" Guilmon asked as he sniffed Patamon's egg.

"I guess." I answered.

"How did I get in there?" He looked at me inquisitively. I decided against telling him what I had learned from Elecmon, about when a Digimon dies they get reborn, so the question was kind of like saying if the chicken or the egg came first. Besides, I wasn't really positive that Guilmon had ever been an egg in the first place.

"Do you know how long it'll take to hatch?" Takato said as he crouched down so he could get a better look at the egg.

"Nope." I replied. Last time it had taken about a week I think, but I was kinda hoping it wouldn't take that long this time, I couldn't wait to see Poyomon. Suddenly Guilmon's head jerked around, his eyes becoming slits, reflecting the setting sun, and Terriermon's ears came back.

"I smell Digimon."

"Henry," Terriermon began. "…he's back." Both Takato and Henry's eyes widened.

"Vajramon? We have to go to him, he's probably with Renamon!" Henry commented. "TK, can you go and get Rika, me and Takato will try and deal with him, but Rika will want to see Renamon as soon as possible." I nodded and we split up, my feet heading towards Rika's place, the egg held firmly in my arms.

* * *

Riley smiled as she roamed the streets of Shinjuku. Today was one of her rare days off, and she was determined to enjoy it. A small bread shop caught her eye, well, the smell caught her nose first and then the bread itself caught her eye.

She walked in and caroused the aisles of bread, grabbing a small bag to put some treats in. A few donuts, maybe some cream puffs… she picked up a donut that had blue frosting special for Yamaki, he had been so serious recently, maybe a little something sweet would loosen him up, though she doubted it.

"Hi, I'd like to buy these." She said as she handed her bag to the man at the register, reaching for her purse.

"No proble-" The man never finished the sentence and whipped her head up to see why. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

"Da-" The man cleared his throat, his face turning red. She gave him a glare. "Please, we've been friends since middle school, I can call you by your name, Davis." He tensed up and she lightly punched him on the shoulder. A sigh escaped his mouth.

"Sorry, Yolei." Davis replied, giving her a small smile. "You're looking good." Yolei nodded. "You got contacts." He said, pointing to her eyes. She nodded.

"Yeah, I'm in a new line of work where glasses get in the way." She answered. He nodded.

"So, Um, how's he been?" He asked, and she knew who he was talking about.

"Not any better, but I think he'd be worse if I wasn't there." She replied, looking off to the side. "How have you been?"

"Good." Davis nodded. He shoved the bread bag towards. "Here, you can keep it, free of charge."

"I can't-" Yolei started.

"Sure you can. Consider it making up for all the times we mooched off of your families store. Plus we're friends." She smiled at him and then jumped over the counter. "Wha-" She wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"I'll see you later, Davis. Take care of yourself." He smiled back at her, and then she left, her purple hair blowing in the small breeze behind her. Davis smiled, it was always good to see an old friend like that.

"Honey, can you help me out with this batch?" He heard his wife ask and he came up to her, turned her around, and gave her a kiss. "Wow, what's gotten into you?"

"Can't a man be happy?" He retorted, a smile on his face.

"Yes, but not when what he makes a living on is burning." She replied as the fire alarm started to go, smoke filling the room. His eyes widened.

"Crap."

* * *

I knocked on the door, a little nervously. I could hear the conversation inside, and it was not encouraging.

"Rika, why did you have to blow it?!" The voice that I had decided was her mom exclaimed.

"I don't know mom, maybe because I hate it!" Rika yelled back.

"Honey, you don't mean that."

"How would you know? You've lived a life of luxury your entire life!"

"Rika! My childhood was very challenging! And don't you make this about me!" I knocked a little louder.

"I'll get it." Rika retorted, and I heard her stomp over before opening the door. "TK, what are you doing here? And why are you soaking wet? She asked, looking me up and down.

"Long story, but Vajramon's turned back up." I said, and her eyes lit up.

"Renamon." I heard her whisper under her breath. Her gaze turned steely with determination. "Mom, I'm leaving."

"Don't you walk out on me, Rika." But Rika already had her shoes on and was halfway down the road. I poked my head in for a second.

"Sorry, but her friends need her." Rika's mom's face went black when she saw me, but I'd never find out why because I then headed over to Rika, who was grabbing two bikes.

"Here, we'll need to be fast." She said. I grabbed the one with a and took off my jacket, putting the egg in there, the jacket making it secure.

"What, is Easter early?" Rika questioned the egg.

"Not exactly." I replied, and held up my Digivice. She just gave it an appraising look before peddling harder, trying to get to her other half as fast as possible.

* * *

"Renamon!" Rika cried as we entered the area where Vajramon was. Apparently while we we're getting here Renamon had asked Vajramon a few question before attacking him, in which case Guilmon and Terriermon had helped her out, well, now they were Growlmon and Gargomon, but either way they looked like they were about at the end of their rope.

"Digi-modify!" Rika cried as she swiped a card through her Digivice. "Digivolution, activate!" Renamon glowed a pure white light before it died down. I had never seen her digivolved form. She was more like a fox, int eh fact that she was on all fours, and had nine tails swishing in the air behind her.

"Wow." I said in awe.

"Kyubimon, you are even more worthy to serve our Sovereign now." Vajramon said, spreading his arms out wide in an invitation.

"Fox Tail Inferno!" Was her reply as she attacked him with a harsh air, but it seemed to just bounce right off of him.

"You made it!" I turned to see Calumon behind me. He jumped onto my head and then looked at the egg I had in my arms. "And you brought a friend!" He exclaimed. I turned just in time to see Kyuubimon jump up at him, but Vajramon caught her and threw her, Kyubimon landing delicately on her feet.

"Digi-Modify! Speed, activate!" Rika called, and Renamon charged at him again.

"Dragon Wheel!" Vajramon swiped his swords, nullifying the attack.

"So beautiful, yet so deluded!" He shouted as she rammed into his chest, only to bounce off harmlessly. "You could be so much stronger, why do you follow such a weak human?" Kyubimon whipped her tail into his face and then head butted his side, throwing him off balance.

"Rika is stronger than you." She replied cooly as he slid across the ground. He got back up.

"You will join us, or you will perish!" He remarked, slicing in her direction.

"Kyubimon!" Rika called out in fear of her partner.

"You could have unlimited data in this world," He said as he took a swipe at her, and she jumped out of the way. "Yet you insist on being a lap dog to such a worthless little girl!" He struck again, and his attack hit her dead on, when the dust cleared Kyubimon lay defeated in a pile of rubble.

"No!" Rika yelled. I felt my tag become warm and when I turned to Rika I saw her pull a blue card out of her deck. "The blue card. Now, it's our turn!" She declared as she gave it a swipe.

"Digi-Modify!" She shouted as she swiped the card, light pouring from her digivice. "Matrix Digivolution, activate!" Renamon glowed, the Digivice glowed, Calumon emitted a red light, and the tag on my chest grew almost unbearably hot. When the light dimmed back down Kyubimon was now Taomon. **(A/N sorry, too lazy to describe her *sweatdrop*)**

"Hmph, why do you choose such a form? The Sovereign would not be pleased." Vajramon retorted, flaring his nostrils.

"I don't really care what your master thinks. And you would be wise to remember that look can be," Her form blurred at the speed she went, appearing in the air above Vajramon. "…deceiving. A Thousadnd Spells!" She called, and razorblade sharp pieces of paper came from her sleeves, slicing Vajramon.

"You deceiving creature, I will destroy you!" He cried as he swung his swords in Taomon's direction, but she simply used her sleeves to knick them away. "Why do you play games with me, what are you here?!" He cried as she jumped lithely away.

"I only wanted information. I am done with you now." Taomon answered.

"You deceptive wretch! Once I take care of you, I'll do away with that puny human of yours!" His blades shot towards Taomon, but she jumped into the air, summoning a giant paintbrush.

"No one threatens Rika!" She cried. "Talisman of Light!"

"What, no, NO!" Vajramon cried as the symbol overtook him, his body dissolving into data.

"Wow." Takato said as he looked at Taomon, floating in the air, triumphant against her foe.

"Yay!" Calumon cried.

* * *

"Why are you here?!" Yamaki cried, facing the woman.

"To try and knock some sense into you. I've been watching the news, this has gone too far!" She cried, her glare piercing him like only hers could.

"I'm trying to protect everyone, so that they don't have to go through what I did." He argued, though he couldn't look her in the eyes. In the eyes he hadn't seen since she walked out on him.

"You're hurting everyone in the process. You're hurting our child." His head jerked up at her words.

"How is he?" He asked.

"Fine." Her voice was cold, but pained. "He has your hair." A small smiled tugged at his mouth. "If you would only stop this, you could meet him." She persisted.

"No, I've made my choice, and you made yours."

* * *

"I am very pleased with your new Digivolution." Rika commented as Renamon stood on top of a statue.

"Good."

"But despite everything you know what pleases me the most?" She asked a small smile on her face.

"No, what?" Renamon questioned.

"How heroic you look, standing there in the moonlight." Then Rika started biking away, leaving Renamon to watched her back, smiling at her partner. When Rika got home, she found an apology on her pillow with a box of chocolates and a deck of new Digimon cards. She had to grin. Her mom was pretty cool sometimes.

Meanwhile, across town, I got into my bed, Patamon's egg nustled against me, knowing that I'd sleep well for the first time in a long time.

* * *

**There we go, the new chapter. I actually quite liked this one, so I hope you guys do as well. Thank for your awesome support, I hope you find this to be a review worthy chapter! Just a few more chapter and we start to get the revealing stuff, I can't wait! Oh, yeah, and go nade-nade the egg today, we are so close!**

** ~the-east-hunter**


	10. Vacation

**Sorry it took me longer than usual to even ****_start _****this chapter, but I have a good (ish) excuse. My reviews weren't working. Like, it would keep on telling me that there were more reviews, but I couldn't get to them! It was the most frustrating thing in the world! I fixed it, but it took a while, and I draw so much of my motivation from you guys, I found it hard to write. Sorry about that *sweat drops***

** Buuuuuut I fixed it, so I got to see all of your lovely reviews (except for one, but we won't talk about that one)! I won't do my whole reviewers thing, but all of you that have an account should get a happy PM from me, and you guest reviewers… I just love you guys to death! MacDreamy and Ayelet, thank you so much! And Mac Dreamy, if I could PM you, I would totally tell you, sorry! Fanfic lover, he's not really amnesiac, he's pretending he is.**

** Oh yeah, one last thing! I was getting a lovely reviewer(s) who mention that I have a lot of typos. *dramatic sigh* 'tis true, I do. SO, if any of you guys want to Beta my stuff before I put it out into the world, please PM me or include it in your review!**

The next day found me at a river in the park, Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri were playing in it with Guilmon, who was using his powerful tail to splash them and get them soaked. In the shade of the tree I sat with my back up against a tree, my legs criss-cross-apple-sauce so that they could perfectly hold the egg.

"Doesn't it seem like the Deva's are coming after us specifically?" I looked up at Henry, who had Terriermon on his shoulder. This was supposed be a meeting of the Tamers, that's why Rika and Takato were here too, and Takato had told me I should come too since I was a Tamer now.

"Do they have such boring lives that the only thing they can do is fight us?" Terriermon asked.

"Well, they're also attacking the public, so it's our duty as Tamers to defeat them, right?" Takato butted in.

"I don't see why." Rika commented.

"If they want to fight us we can't just ignore them." Renamon inputted, appeared a little ways away from Rika.

"I don't know, the real question is why they're here in the first place. Like are they looking for something?" I questioned aloud. Henry turned to look at me, puzzling over the question in his head.

"You're right, they have to want something." He agreed, nodding his head a little.

"Hey, are you losers going to talk all day?!" Kazu yelled from the river. "We're gonna get Guilmon all pruney!" Takato's head shot towards Kazu.

"You kidding, I'd pay to see that!" He turned to us. "Any of you guys coming?" Henry shook his head.

"I can't, I have martial arts practice in a little bit." Rika started to walk away.

"I'm allergic to stupid." She said. Takato turned towards me hopefully, I just gave an apologetic smile, holding up my egg.

"Sorry, I don't want to take any chances." Takato nodded in understanding.

"I'll catch you guys later then!" He exclaimed as he ran off to the river. "I'm gonna get you Guilmon. Up above, in the trees, Impmon sat.

"Look at him, being a pet to the humans! It makes me sick!" He said in anger.

* * *

"Vacation?" I asked questioningly, looking from Takato, to his dad, to his mom, and then back to Takato.

"Yeah, I'm going to go and see my cousin in Okinawa, and Henry is coming along too." Takato explained. Again.

"We we're talking it over and we decided you should go." I looked up at Mrs. Matsuki said, smiling at me.

"Plus, who knows, the beach might help you with your memory." Mr. Matsuki added, a serious expression crossing his features. Right, I'm supposed to have amnesia.

"I don't know, I don't want to impose myself on you. You're already giving me a place to eat and sleep, I don't want you guys to have to buy a plane ticket and everything."

"Too late." Mr. Matsuki said, holding up two plane tickets. "We already did." I small smile appeared on my face.

"Fine, I guess I can force myself to go on vacation." I replied. Takato's smile reached from ear to ear.

"We leave later tonight, we should go pack!" He said eagerly as he led me up to the room.

* * *

"You," The word is echoed through a void, which a surreal quality to it. It's like to people speaking in sync, but in comes from one being. "…you are all that is left of Apoclymon's data. My duty is to finish what my partners started." Omnimon continued, staring coldly at the strange, grotesque Digimon.

"Ahhh, you've finally found me. But you can't catch me, and you know you can't. Those partners you speak so highly of, they abandoned you, abandoned you at exactly the wrong time, and now you're stuck here." He taunted.

"I know what you plan to do, and I will stop you." He said determinedly.

"You may have caught on, but you'll never win. I will reign supreme!" Omnimon sprung at the Digimon with his sword out, taking a swipe at him. "Sorry, Omnimon, but I really must go. Have fun in between!" The void seemed to suck in around him and then he was gone, leaving Omnimon alone, surrounded by darkness.

* * *

"So, this cousin of yours, what's he like?" Henry asked as the three of us sat on the plane.

"Oh, I actually have a picture!" Takato sifted through his bag for a second before pulling out a small rectangular paper. Henry, Terriermon, and I all leaned in to see the picture. A little Takato was playing with a little boy about the same age with black hair and tan skin.

"Awww, you look adorable." I teased before glancing at the egg in my lap as it moved a little. It had been doing that more and more often I knew it would hatch soon, though getting it through security was quite a hassle.

"I haven't seen him in years, I wonder what he's like now." Takato said, and Henry glanced over at me before his eyes dropped back down to the egg.

"It's moving again?" I really was more of a statement than a question. I nodded, and Terriermon leaned over and knocked on the shell.

"Hello? Any digi home?" Terriermon asked. A small knocking came from the egg in return. "I'll take that as a yes!" He said and then started to talk to the egg, even though I was sure that Poyomon couldn't hear him.

After we landed Henry grabbed his bags and left. He was going to an island not far from Okinawa and he and Takato had talked about meeting sometime later. I followed Takato and helped him lug around the giant bag that Guilmon was in while we tried to find his cousin, Kai. On a nearby TV the news was on.

"Tamashiro, tell us more about your new V-pet!" A female news reporter said with fake enthusiasm, holding a microphone up to a mans face.

"Of course. You see, the V pet is just like a real pet, except Virtual!" He exclaimed.

"He looks funny." I jumped and looked up to see Calumon resting on my head. Apparently I had gotten so used to him being there I didn't even notice him.

"Calumon, who is the world did you get here?!" I asked, taking him off my head and looking around to make sure no had seen him. Takato was a little ways away still looking for Kai, which is what I should be doing too.

"I went into your bag!" He happily chirped. I had to resist smacking my forehead. I adjusted my arms so that I could hold both Calumon and my egg.

"Just act like a stuffed animal." I said. Calumon turned to the egg.

"Hi there, do you wanna play?" He asked.

"Stuffed. Animal." I whispered.

"KAI?!" I heard Takato exclaim and I hurried over to him to investigate what he meant. He was staring at the TV, why would he...

"Yeah, he's my cousin, I was supposed to meet him around here." A kid that looked suspiciously like the kid from the picture on the plane was talking to the news reporter.

"Look kid, this is an interview-" The man in the green shirt began, and I never heard what else he was saying because Takato had run off and I was chasing him as we tried to find where the heck Kai was. We finally found the small group that surrounded the news camera. I hung back held onto the Guilmon bag (which was shifting its weight in a way that was very hard to hide) while Takato dove into the fray.

After a few moments he finally came back out accompanied by his cousin, and after a quick introduction we headed onto a ferry to the island.

"Pretty interesting egg you have there." Kai noted. I looked down at my arms, Calumon had left as soon as we had exited the airport.

"Yeah, it's a really long story." A really, really, really, long story.

"Hmmm, bet you don't remember half of it." He commented, and I looked up at him in confusion before he pointed to his temple. "You know, with your problem and all." I gave a nod, trying to give my best I'm-a-poor-amnesiac look. I think I was getting pretty good at it.

"Hey, TK, Kai, look!" Takato exclaimed and the two of us hurried to the front of the ship. There sat a quaint little island covered in lush trees and gorgeous beaches.

"We're here!" He then proceeded to jump in.

"Kai, I told you not to do that!" The Ferry man called, but Kai just laughed.

"Kai!" Takato yelled at his cousin.

"I'll meet you at the island!" He called back and started to swim to the beach.

"So, I hope you know where this place is, because we just lost our guide." I said, and Takato sent me an uneasy look.

* * *

**Allow me to once again further explain why this took so long to write. I mean, it's only 1,400 something words, and isn't that great. This is the fifth draft of this chapter. I was suffering from severe writers block and couldn't decide what I wanted to do with this chapter. So instead I decided to do this after writing this chapter four other times and hating what I wrote.**

** Yeah. Sorry. You guys all probably hate me, but I's excited for this part of the story regardless, even though it took me a few days to realize that I wanted to do it now.**

**~the-east-hunter**


	11. Unsafe Waters

**New chapter, woot woot. I hope you like it. Awesome reviews, as per usual. WOW544, thanks!**

** Ayelet, thanks for being so understanding! I'm glad you thought it was a good chapter!**

** MacDreamy, I think you'd be great writing fanfics, either way, I love having you around! I agree, though I do not personally speak it, I do think Chinese is a beautiful language. Kai is from the Digimon Tamers move 'Battle of Adventurers' He is Takato's cousin. Dark ocean, you bring up a good point, TK should have something tragically happen to him *evil laugh* perhaps soon.**

** Lightus of Light, Thanks as usual, m8, I hope this update was at least faster than the last one.**

** AUehara-sama, I have a few things planned. And yes, Omnimon is Omegamon, sorry, I probably should have clarified that for the people who don't speak English or didn't watched the dubbed versions *sweatdrop***

** Now, onto the story!**

* * *

"Ugh, this bag is so heavy!" I exclaimed while I continued to try and push Guimon's bag, Takato attempting to pull it on the other end while we made slow progress. "So how are you related to Kai anyway?" I asked before giving it another good shove, progressing a few inches.

"Um, I think he's my dad's sister's son if I remember right." Takato said, pausing for a bit to give it some thought. I nodded.

"That explains why he's has a different last name." I replied. The sun was beating down on us, my eyes lids began to droop a little before I jerked them back open, I noticed Takato was having similar problems.

"It's so hot here." He commented. "Maybe we should take a break."

"Yeah." I replied, and we both took a seat on the ground, leaning up against the huge bag. In order to pull the bag I had to put my egg in my backpack, which made me feel a little guilty, but I had it swaddled with several small blankets so hopefully it would okay.

My eyes began to droop again, and this time I was too late to stop them, and my body relaxed.

* * *

My eyes slowly opened back up to an unfamiliar house with a shamisen playing in the background. I sat up a noticed Takato sleeping a little ways away from me. I leaned over and gave his sleeping for a nudge.

"Hey, Takato, wake up." Takato emitted a small groan before sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Where are we?" He asked, looking around with a small, puzzled expression.

"I think we're at your cousins' place." I responded before my eyes widened, like they might pop out of my head. "Where's my bag." The image of the egg coming to mind. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I spotted it within an arm's reach, I quickly grabbed it and took out the egg, holding it protectively.

"Oh no." Takato said as he got up and went to the view of the ocean. I followed to see what he meant. Kai was walking up the beach to the small house followed by… Guilmon.

"Oh no." I repeated, and we started to run down the beach to meet the two of them. However, on the way down there my mind couldn't help but to wander. Mr. Matsuki had been right about one thing, this did remind me of my past, but it was of a muddle of different memories. There was trips to the digital world, with my friends around me, helping Digimon and with our partners, saving the world.

There were also bone chilling trips to the dark ocean, ones that still gave me nightmares. The sand and the smell of the ocean did indeed bring back memories, of both the best times in my life, and the most horrific.

"Kai, I can explain!" Takato started, but Kai didn't let him.

"Takato, I didn't know Digimon were real! This is awesome!" He exclaimed, and Takato was momentarily taken aback.

"Wait, you know about Digimon?" I asked, and Kai rolled his eyes.

"Duh, who doesn't know about Digimon? You know, besides my grandpa." He said I swear Takato looked like he was about to pass out. We walked back up the house and went inside with Guilmon and Kai.

"Interesting looking dog you have there." Kai's grandpa commented.

"It's not a dog, grandpa, it's a Digmon!" Kai exclaimed in exasperation.

"It looks like a dog to me." His grandpa persisted. Calumon chose then to show up and fly across the room.

"Well, what was that, a _flying _dog?" Kai asked, his voice laced heavily with sarcasm. His grandpa stared in the direction that Calumon had gone for a second before turning away. Me and Takato shared a look and a small laugh.

* * *

The morning brought with it a beautiful sunrise and a calm breakfast on the beach, watching the waves lazily lap at the shore. Well, it started that way at least. Kai had woken us up earlier than usual to see the sun make its way over the ocean. Guilmon was surprisingly lethargic, probably because he had to get up so early.

I sat a little ways away from the others, just taking the calmness of the ocean. I was humming a soft tune to my egg, which was swaying to the rhythm in my lap. One of my hands came up from the egg, thoughtfully resting on chest, or more specifically, on my tag under my shirt.

I had been thinking about it recently, the strange warmth that had come from my tag a few days ago, and I had decided that it must have come from the remnants of my crest or something, though I didn't know why it had reacted to the other's digivolving. Maybe if I had my crest… no, I couldn't let myself entertain the mere idea of it. I had given up my crest, my hope, and long time ago, and no matter how much it I longed for it, I would never get it back. I gave my egg a small pat.

A scream pieced through the salt air.

All of us instantly went on alert, and Guilmon stood up, his eyes becoming only slits as he sniffed the air, and whatever he smelled that we couldn't, it must have been pretty bad. A growl started come from him as he bore his teeth in the direction of the ocean.

A girl was speeding towards us at a high speed, and the waters behind her rough. A giants serpentine head came out of the ocean, rearing back and giving a high pitched squeal before snapping at her, missing her by a few feet.

"Guimon, you have to help her!" Takato exclaimed.

"Quick, I'll start up one of the boats!" Kai called and we headed to one of the fishing boats owned by his family. We hurried towards the girl, and right when we were within a few feet of her she was knocked into the water.

"No!" I shouted, memories floating to my mind. Odaiba was under attack. We were all separated. I was with Joe. Then I feel into the water, and I almost drowned. He had managed to save me, and almost died cause of it. I started to head towards the edge of the boat, ready to do the same as he had done all those years ago, but Kai was one step ahead of me as he flung himself into the water without hesitation.

Probably for the best, I still had by eggs in my arms and I'd hate for it (cry for eternity) if it got lost in the waves.

"Guilmon, you have to get in there buddy and take down the Tylomon!" Takato called to his Digimon, who gave a nod before jumping into the waves as well. You tell above water when the fighting started, because both me and Takato had to grip the rails of the boat in order to stay on board.

"A little help?" We both turned to look at the side of the ship, where Kai precariously floated with the girl. We hurried over, trying our best not to fall as the boat rocked. I bent down and took up Kai's load, trying as gently as possibly to lay her down on one of the seats as salty spray hit out faces. By the time Takato had helped Kai up, the waters were eerily smooth and quiet.

"Guilmon?" He said the name under his breath as he looked out at the placid waters, worried for the wellbeing of his Digimon.

"Takato-mon!" Guilmon called as his head broke through the water, waving at him cheerfully. Takato waved back with equal enthusiasm, and for Takato's sake I pretended I hadn't seen his tears.

Kai landed the boat as quickly as possible before picking the girl up and carrying her piggy back style as we made a dash to the house, hoping that the girl would be okay. Once we got inside we laid her down on the ground, Kai went to go get his Grandpa, who was out fishing.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Takato asked as he looked at the half drowned girl. I thought back to the times that me and my friends had been in similar positions.

"She'll be okay." I said with confidence. Looked at the brown bag that Takato had. "Is that hers?" He nodded.

"Do you think we should check it? You know, to see if she has any identification?" I gave it a brief thought before nodding.

"Yeah, but try not to peak at anything too personal." We then began to go through the contents of the bag, pulling out a few odd and end things. One thing caught both of our eyes. It was a laptop in a water proof bag, obviously put there with care. We shared one look before slowly opening it.

"Bark!" A V pet looked back at us.

* * *

"This is stupid! Why did Henwy have to leave wiff Tewwiermon?" Suzie complained as she sat at her computer. A V pet barked back at her happily, but she just frowned back at it as is incorrectly solved a math problem. "Not even Daddy's home yet." She pouted.

"Ruff!"

"Okay, fine, I'll feed you." She muttered.

* * *

"Hello?" A man with fluffy brown hair picked up his phone. Static was his only reply, and he considered hanging up before a deep, double layered voice came from the other side.

"I… Need… You…" The man's eyes widened and he almost dropped the phone in astonishment before holding it closer to his face, gripping it desperately.

"Is that you?! It can't be! How are you talking to me? What do you need me for?" But his questions went unanswered as the line went dead. He stood there, numb, in his apartment for several minutes.

Little did he know that a little just a small trip down town to take him to a man who had received an identical phone call. The voice that echoed through the phone resonating with his memories as he knew it could only be one the belonged to a ghost from his past.

"Omnimon?" Yamaki whispered, thought the line was dead and there was no hope of the Digimon on the other end hearing him.

* * *

**Okay, there we go, another chapter and the thrilling journey continues! So, someone said that I'm not progressing the plot enough or something like that, I was wondering, do you guys feel that way? I would hate for you guys to stop reading this cause I write crappy. Please tell me, I love all of you and your precious reviews and stuff, and I want to make y'all happy.**

**~the-east-hunter**


	12. Captured

**Okay, there we go, another chapter and the thrilling journey continues! So, someone said that I'm not progressing the plot enough or something like that, I was wondering, do you guys feel that way? I would hate for you guys to stop reading this cause I write crappy. Please tell me, I love all of you and your precious reviews and stuff, and I want to make y'all happy.**

**~the-east-hunter**

**So, here we are again, at the dawning of a new chapter. We'll start with you, Wayw4rd. I think I told about my mistake, so that should clear that up. Also, about everything recently being filler… I feel that way as well, but hopefully this mini arc thing will give you some plot movement (I'm not exactly the best writer out there)**

**Zero Unit RGB, I know, isn't Suzie adorable?! I'm glad you liked the flashbacks, they were fun to write. I'm re-watching Tamers and Adventure while writing this, so I get to pull things from the original, which I love!**

**MacDreamy, *blush* I'm glad you feel that way, it makes me feel uber good. His crest should come into action pretty soon, so be prepared!**

**Ayelet, thanks, that really helps me want to write. Sorry, that one review just brought me down for a bit, but you guys cheer me right back up! **

**Lightus of Light, thanks, m8, it made me feel good, what you said about fillers, less like a bad writer.**

**AUehara-sama, it is weird to think of them as old. They are kind of back in action, but their time to shine is really at a later date. No, I don't get confused by you using the Japanese names, I'm well versed in them and everything, and actually have watched most of the seasons subbed before, I just watched them dubbed first so I decided to use those names. **

**So, here we go! (that's a good song)**

* * *

"Mmmm…" The sound is light and feminine sounding, and I turned my head in response to look at the girl, we discovered her name was Minami, was opening her eyes. We had decided to take turned watching her, and had also changed her out of her soaking wet clothes in dry ones from some neighbors.

"Oh, hey, you're awake!" I stated the obvious, and my egg vibrated, as if it wanted to say hello to Minami as well.

"Ah, what happened?" She asked as he sat up, and I gave her a quick briefing on the events. "I see…" Was her only reply, and tears were starting to appear in her eyes.

"TK! Dinner's ready!" Kai called to me. I gave Minami a look.

"Are you hungry?"

"No really…" A growl from her stomach said otherwise and her cheeks blossomed bright red. I gave a small laugh.

"Come on, you can meet the others." She got up and we headed towards the dining room. "I'm TK, by the way." I offered.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Minami, thanks for saving me."

"I know." Then blushed slightly. "I mean, I already knew cause we went through your stuff, I hope that's okay, we needed to find out who you were, and that's how you know my name." I small smile graced her lips. "And you really shouldn't be thanking me, I mostly just sat in boat, Kai and Takato did all the heavy lifting."

When we emerged into the room our senses were buffeted with smells that made even my stomach growl, and I had had a snack not long ago. We sat down on the ground and started to eat, Kai and Takato introducing themselves to Minami. However, halfway through the meal, Minami just started to cry.

"What's wrong?" Takato asked, almost panicked. Kai's grandpa, however, just looked at her with compassion.

"Sometimes, you just need to cry." He replied, and we sat there letting Minami do just that for a few seconds before she excused herself.

* * *

"Hey dad." Henry replied into his phone. Apparently his dad's condition had gotten much better so he was allowed to go home, but he couldn't pick up basically anything and not engage in any thing strenuous, or else they'd have to take him back into the hospital and maybe even have to re-do his stitches.

"Henry, there's a problem." Instantly Henry was on high alert, his fathers' voice serious.

"What is it dad?" Henry asked, his eyes wide.

"It's the vsdhjkda they're jsakldfkj Henry, you're in dangersasfdj-" The line went dead, a cold feeling crawling up Henry's spine.

"What is it?" Terriermon asked as he appeared from out of the shower, practically lost in the fold of a towel as he dried himself.

"Nothing good."

* * *

"Dang it, they must have gotten into the phone lines!" Mr. Wong said as he sat in the dark apartment. They had lost power as well, and the darkness seemed to echo with hopelessness.

"I wish Pwincess Pwetty Pants was here." Suzie said as she came over and carefully sat on her dad's lap, trying to be gentle as she remembered that he had a boo boo. Mr. Wong absentmindedly smoothed out his daughters hair, his mind went to Terriermon as well.

"So do I."

Meanwhile, across town, Rika sat in her room, listening to a battery radio.

"Meanwhile it has been reported that the Airways may face some difficulties in light of this new virus attacking the main frames-" Renamon materialized behind her, compassion lacing her voice.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Rika held a small picture in her hand. It was her mother, when she was younger, a little Younger than Rika herself was. She wore a red cowgirl dress along with a pink hat, and though she looked so young her eyes and smile were the same. She was supposed to be coming home from France today.

"Hmf, mothers are so frustrating. You wish they were there, and when they are you don't want them around." She declared before setting down the picture and walking outside, though she left the radio on. Renamon smiled to herself. Rika acted to mature, but sometimes she was just the opposite.

* * *

"Can I give it a try?" I asked as I peaked outside. Minami had chosen to sit on the deck, facing the ocean. She had the laptop out, her V-pet was happily barking at her, but her face was sad and she made no movements towards responding to it.

"Sure." She gloomily replied, and I took that as an invitation to sit next to her. She handed me the laptop and I opened up the V-pet application, feeding it and then throwing a digital Frisbee for it to catch.

"This is pretty cool." I commented, and threw her a smile. If anything her eyes became even more downcast.

"I guess." She replied.

"What's wrong? Why don't you like it?" I asked, and I set the laptop to the side, placing my egg once again in my lap.

"That V-pet, it's the first one ever made. My dad made it after my puppy, Mia, died. But the thing is, she died trying to save me, so it's my fault. I guess those Digimon want it or something. But the thing is, I don't know why. And the V-pet can never replace Mia." She said. I looked at her sadly, and my egg even seemed to droop a bit at the harsh words.

"I think you're dad was really doing his best. And I'm sure Mia wouldn't want you to mourn her forever." I said with conviction. The sun finished it's setting over the ocean, and the the stars began to make their appearance.

"Well, I'm gonna head in for the night, you should probably turn in as well, you've had quite a day." I said and headed the room I was sharing with Takato, letting sleep come over me. However, the moment of sleep was short lived as my eyes burst open and sleep became a distant memory to the sound in the other part of the house.

Takato got up and headed out to find what the noise was, on his guard, Guilmon following close behind. I grabbed my egg and did the same. The egg shivered in my hand, like it could sense the evil in the air, and I grew only more cautious. We ran into Minami's room only to find two Digimon, a Divermon and a Scorpiomon, attempting to capture her.

"No!" Takato shouted and Guilmon sprang into action, attacking the Scorpiomon, though it was hard to slash at it in the close quarters. The Divermon grabbed Minami's arm and she let out a shriek. I punched the Divermon, knocking it off balance.

"What the-" the Divermon seemed strangely distracted by me, looking me up and down. "You can't be! But I never question what I know is true. My master will like you, perhaps even more than the girl!" He reached his webbed hand out to grab me but I ran and grabbed Minami, instead running with her outside, leaving Guilmon to deal with both of the Digimon.

"Get the blonde one as well!" The Divermon shouted to his companions. Kai followed behind us, on guard, though outside proved not to be much better than inside. Something slimy grabbed my arm and started to pull on me, and my eyes widened as I struggled to hold onto my egg, which was shivering in fear almost violently.

"Aaaahhhh!" I looked over to see Minami in a similar position of distress. Her cry echoed through the air, and her laptop, which had found its way onto the beach in the confusion, began to glow and illuminate the darkness, and the light melding into a solid form.

"Rrrrghhh." The growl of a beast came across the beach and it lunged at whatever had me and Minami, and in a matter of seconds red data floated in the air where the enemy had been. The Digimon, similar to a dog or maybe more like a wolf, was white and yellow with bared fangs. It approached Minami and knelt down at her feet, sniffing them before turning up to look her in the eyes.

"Minami." He said, and her eyes widened. I opened my mouth to ask him who he was and how he knew Minami, but a splash from the ocean just a few feet behind us caused my turn around. A massive Mantaraymon emerged from the waves, barreling towards the two of us.

"TK! Takato shouted.

"Minami!" Came The Digimon's anguished cry as he hurled himself at the Mantaraymon, but was effortlessly batted away. It picked the tow of us on its pronged head, and Minami on top of me, and I clutched my egg harder than ever, and this time both of us were shivering with fear.

"TK, what do we do?" Minami asked as the waves became the only thing in sight.

"I- I don't know."

* * *

"I don't know, Izzy, it was definitely him." Tai said in to the phone as he started to boot back up his computer, glad the computer geek he was talking to forced him have a generator in case the worst happened.

"They haven't contacted us for years, even after all we tried to do." Izzy replied. "I'll come over to your place as soon as possible."

"It just doesn't quite fit, something is still wrong. My Digivice didn't even do anything, at least back in Middle School I knew when he was distressed."

"The Digivice's might just be unreliable, they haven't done anything in years." Izzy calmly inputted. Tai sighed.

"You're probably right, I just still don't think we'll be able to reach him."

"We have to try." Izzy said with determination. "I'll be there in a nano."

* * *

"Is everything okay sir?" Riley asked Yamaki. He had been agitated all day, and she had no clue as to why.

"Look for any anomalies fitting this code." He handed her a sheet full of a sequence of symbols.

"But sir, isn't this…"

"Just do it." He barked, but Riley was starting wonder, because these patterns were ones she knew well and Yamaki must know by heart. They meant Omnimon.

* * *

**Okay, so this was quick, but I wanted to make it up to you. No, this is not even close to the end game of this fan fic, we haven't even gotten to the really good stuff yet, in fact, the real arc hasn't even hit them yet, right now I'm just moving the chess pieces around, getting ready. I hope you all enjoy this and find this chapter satisfying.**


	13. the past still haunts

**Here we go, probably second to last chapter before this arc is over. I'd like to clarify, this section has been based off of the Digimon movie: Battle of Adventurers, the characters here (Mephistomon, Minami, the V-pet, ect) aren't my own, and aren't OC's. Also I've discovered Summer Wars, but more details on my ideas on what do with that movie and Digimon later. (hint: think crossover)**

** Lightus of Light, great to see you again m8, you're continued support fuels my fingertips.**

** AUehera, no you're not selfish, and you'll probably hate me when this chapter's over, but very very very very soon, I can't wait for it either!**

** Wayw4rd, maaaayyyyybbbeeee *attempts to look innocent***

** Zero Unit RGB, I can't wait for that meeting either, but it might be a while, I have everything (more or less) planned out, so you might have be a little patient with me.**

** MacDreamy, you aren't, one of my first reviews said that this could be like 50 chapters, and originally I thought I would write this half heartedly, but that made me go 'wooooohooooo! Writing powers activate!' so you're good. **

** Ayelet, I'm glad you like it so much!**

** Guest! Hey, I love Guests! (are you the same guest from earlier reviews or a new one, both answers are AWESOME!) I don't know how to answer your questions…? Magic? Author trying to ignore plot holes?**

** Jon Voris, your review made my day! It made me so happy! I'm glad you're still enjoying this story!**

** Fanakatsuki, *blush* thanks, it's one I've been sitting on for a few years now.**

** Cartoonprawn, welcome to the party! Glad to have you, I'm glad you hate/love me, I hope you enjoy this new addition!**

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"TK, I'm scared." I looked up at Minami. We weren't in an exactly ideal position. Somewhere along the way we both passed out, probably from fear (not exactly my best moment), and now we found ourselves in a circular white room that had a ceiling too high above us, an observation window looked down at us, though no one was in it as of yet.

"I don't know what to tell you." I replied honestly. When we had woken up in here I found my egg still clutched tightly in my arms, apparently I had still been holding him, even in my sleep. I had a bad feeling about his, whatever it was. Footsteps echoed through the empty space as I anxiously paced, Minami watching me, worry etched on her face.

"Ah, the child of Hope, fallen into my grasps yet again." My head jerked up as I was labeled with a title that I had long ago forfeited. A man now stood in the observation room, the same man that had been on TV advertising the V-pet.

"How did you find out about that name?" I snapped at him, my eyes appearing to attempt to make him combust. The name was like taunting me, fueling my anger at the one thing I didn't have in my grasp.

Hope.

"You don't remember me? Well, I am a shadow of my previous self, the last piece of data of who I was. That's the funny thing about your merciful way of fighting, so different from the new ways. That destroyed data just floats around, finding its way to primary village. That should have been my fate, a time of reverie to regain my strength until I could rise up again, but your companions-" The word was spat with content. "-hunted down my data before it could get there, I am the last groupings of it, but I will be returned to my previous glory!" I stared at him for a second.

"Okay, great, and you are…?" I made circle motions with my hand. Minami was trembling, a hand on my shoulder and trying to hide behind me. My angry attitude was now hidden behind a new cocky one.

"I am the incarnation of all those who died." My eyes widened, night terrors of an eight year old boy who had seen too much rushing back like a receded tide. The façade broke, and I gripped my egg so hard that if it wasn't so close to hatching I would be afraid that I was hurting it.

"You, you can't be…" I tried to make out words, but my tongue froze before I could manage to even speak his name.

"Please, call me Mephistomon." I stared at him, and I felt tears prick my eyes. I felt eight again, just scared, and hopeless. After all, in a manner of speaking, this was the guy that took away my hope. His eyes lowered to the load I held in my arms, and a chill ran up my spine.

"What a strange occurrence." He purred. "I know that aging is different here than in the Digital World, but shouldn't you be much older by now?" I couldn't move or speak. "Perhaps we should have a chat, catch up." And then he was gone, and I knew that when I left this room, I'd be going to my doom.

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"We need to meet up with Takato." Henry told Terriermon as he stood on the pier, his phone held up to his ear. "Come on!" He exclaimed as he lowered it from his face and looked at his phone in frustration. He had been trying to reach his family or Rika all day, but nothing was working.

"Um, Henry?" Terriermon spoke up, tugging on end of Henry's pants.

"Not now, Terriermon." Henry replied as he started to put in Rika's number again.

"Henry…" He persisted.

"I said not now!"

"Isn't that the boat?" Terriermon pointed out to the ocean, and Henry looked up. There as the boat, sure enough. On fire, headed right to the docks, and not slowing down.

"Not good, not good, not good!" Henry shouted as he dashed across the dock, splinters and planks of wood hitting him as the dock was torn apart. The planks beneath him lurched as the boat groaned, attempting to fight through the dock before it slowly stopped, leaving Henry on the ground, dust rising around him and his clothes more than a little soaked.

"Henry!" Terriermon rushed over to his partner, who he had been flung from in the frenzy, and attempted to get some of the dust out of his hair, which now looked gray from all the dust.

"Hey… Terriermon…" Henry replied as he slowly got up, wincing once or twice at his injuries. He turned to see the boat, lying now on its side in water. "I guess we're not going to see Takato." His eyes glanced down to see his phone broken. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Great, what now?"

"Momentai **(a/n how the heck do you spell that word?)**, I'm sure something will go our way." Henry gave Terriermon a disbelieving look.

"Henry." A deep, double layered voice called to him, and his head snapped up to see the sky rippling above him. "I have need of you and your partners assistance, Tamer. Come with me, you must save your fellow men." Henry stared at the rippling sky, catching only glimpses at the being behind it. A steely blue eye, reflecting an unearthly light, stared at them.

"Told you so." Terriermon said.

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"We need to go after TK and Minami!" Takato shouted, as he ran to the boats. Kai followed, grabbing his arm and stopping Takato.

"I agree with you, but what can we do? How on earth do you expect to find them?" Kai asked, and Takato struggled in his grasp.

"Anything! Anything but lay around!" He persisted. Kai glared at him.

"Think this one through, Takato."

"I am! I'm thinking about-"

"Minami." Both boys turned to see Seasermon, his paws up on the boat, staring at the sea desperately. A whine came from him. "I smell her." Takato and Kai shared a quick look, coming to an agreement.

"Seaserman, do you think you could lead us to Minami." Kai asked, and Seasermon turned his head to stare at them.

"Please." He responded, and hoped into the boat. "I must protect her."

"Yeah, let's go." Takato got in as well, Kai and Guilmon following.

"I _must _find her." Seasermon persisted as the boat started to run, taking off across the sea, his eyes searching the waves as if he could find her in them.

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"Put. Him. Down!" I shouted as I tried to resist my bonds. I was in a room, similar to my previous one, but smaller. The man from earlier, Mephistomon, though he didn't look like the evil Digimon I connected him with, was facing me, a wicked smile on his face. He had chained me to the wall, and forcibly taken my egg away from me, holding it in his filthy hands with a wicked smile on his face.

"Why should I? He's one of those scum that destroyed my previous, glorious form! And now, this world shall pay!" He gripped the egg in his hand, fury written across his face, and then threw it across the room.

"No!" I shouted, my hand reaching out, though it didn't get far before the cold chains bit into my skin, but still, I fought against them, though it was in vain. I watched as the egg, my egg, hurtled toward the side of the wall… and then paused in mid air and lightly landed on the ground. Mephistomon cursed under his breath.

"Dang it," His eyes shifted around the room, on the walls, the ceiling, the floor. "…he's watching us. He's protecting the rat it that egg." Whatever he was looking for, he didn't find it and turned his attention back to me. "That means he's protecting you as well." He rolled his eyes. "I guess I will be seeing you later than, after the real party starts."

I glared at his retreating form, the door closing shut behind him. Once he was gone and strained against my chains once again, trying to reach the egg.

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"Rika, you are needed." Rika looked up from her garden in the back of her house, the double layered voice calling to her from the rippled in the air.

"Get out." She retorted, her radio talking about how several planes had been crashing, and reading the flight numbers. On her bed stand, next to the radio was a piece of paper with information of a single plan on it, though she had it memorized.

"I told she'd be like this." A familiar voice rang through the air, and Rika caught a glance of a green and cream colored ear.

"Terriermon?" She said out loud, and Renamon appeared next to her.

"Come on, Rika, Takato and TK need us." The ripples revealed an orange vest.

"Henry." Renamon said, and then looked at Rika, who gave a nod.

"Let's go save goggle head and bucket hat."

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The sounds of splashes and spluttering bounced off the pristine walls as four heads emerged from a circular pool of water.

"I don't like water anymore." Growlmon (they had a run in with some Digimon on their way here) complained. They had found an underwater pathway to the base where TK and Minami were being held, but it turned out that it was very hard to hold your breath for that long.

"Agreed." Takato commented as he lugged his water logged body onto the floor, Kai and Guilmon following suit. Seasarmon hopped out and shook himself off, immediately turning to the walls, sniffing at them and then turning his head in the direction of a hallway.

"There." He said before bounding down the hallway at full speed. The others fumbled after him, slipping a little on the now wet ground. Kai had been trying to get Calumon to come with them, but the little guy just kept right out of reach, eventually he gave up and ran back in the direction of the others, assuming that Calumon would just follow as well.

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I was still struggling against my bonds, in the same position I had been in for a while now, when the doors opened. I jerked my head up, ready to face Mephistomon again, preparing myself for his cutting words, and willing to take whatever he threw at me (earlier an Ogremon had come in a given me the black eye I know sported) as long as he didn't even _look _at my egg.

"What game are you playing?" The figure that stepped into the room was small, had a high pitched voice, and long ears.

"Calumon?" I said in shock, more of a statement than a question. Bounced over to the egg, putting on of his big ears up against it, occasionally twitching it, a smile appeared on his face.

"He sounds like fun!" He turned to look at me. "That doesn't look like a very fun game."

"It's not." I assured him. "Is there any way you could help me out here?" I asked though I knew the answer was no. He approached me, and looked up at me, opening his mouth as if to answer. But he didn't, instead he looked me straight in the eyes, and his mouth slowly closed like he forgot what he was going to say.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, his ears had retracted and he was holding his head like he had a brain freeze or a headache. I reached my hand out towards him, but the chains cut into my wrists again.

"UwaaaaAAahhHhhh!" He cried, a red light filled the room, blinding me, slowly changing to orange, and then to yellow. The light slowly died down and I blinked away the dark spots that danced in front of my eyes, my hands coming up to rub them. Wait a second… I opened my eyes to see the chains gone, like they had never been there, though my wrists were still raw and in a few places bleeding, and the stinging sensation around my eye told me it was still sporting the lovely bruise.

"What the…" I gaped, and a familiar warmth rested against my chest. I pulled out my tag, except it wasn't just my tag anymore, my crest, the crest of hope, sat in it, like it always had, like it had never left. I clutched in my hand, and looked down at Calumon. "How in the world…?"

"YAY!" He jumped up at me, and I barely succeeded in catching him. "You feel all warm now! Now you really are like me!" I awkwardly hugged his head, my mind wandering off to possible meaning of that phrase.

"Wait, how'd you get here, Calumon?" I held him a little away from my body so that I could see him better.

"Everyone else was coming here, so I tagged along!" He exclaimed happily.

"So Takato and Kai came too?" Calumon gave a nod. "Then we need to go find them." I put him down and went to pick up my egg, a little bit of a bad feeling coming into my stomach. I loved Patamon, and after all he had done for me, I was forever in his debt, but I had to pray that he hatched soon, as things got more and more intense I was just putting him in harm's way.

"Lead the way Calumon." The egg shifted slightly, tilting towards my chest, like I was warmer now or something. I felt better now, I felt complete, I felt like with Rika and Takato and Henry, whatever I was here to do, I'd accomplish it.

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"I'm sorry, Tai, but I'm not getting any readings for Omnimon." The two friends sat in the apartment, looking over a computer.

"I swear that it was him!" Tai inserted.

"I know, you might be right, the reading have been going haywire recently, it's prodigious really, he could have contacted you, but if he did he's gone now." Tai practically deflated. "By the way, I was wondering, why didn't you call the others and tell them?" Izzy asked curiously.

"You know I can't remember their numbers, much less their fake names, wanting to start over and everything." Tai looked at a picture wistfully, one of eleven kids, all smiling and content with life. "I never understood how they managed to do that, try and forget everything that happened." His hand lightly brushed against the younger blond haired boy who stood proudly next his older brother. "…even the tragedies."

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"Nothing, sir." Riley reported.

"Then try again!" He shouted in anger, playing with his lighter. There was no way it wasn't him, he double checked, tripled checked his memory. Maybe if Omnimon was okay, than that meant that- no, don't think like that, you abandoned that delusional dream long ago. You faced reality. You're saving others from the same fate.

He didn't even kind of believe himself.

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**Well, we'll end this here. Sorry, school's started and things have become a muddle, I really am sorry. I'll try to work as fast as possible, but homework can do a really good job at making things like that hard, so just wish me luck! ;) You're reviews will make me work harder. I promise. Thanks for all the support.**

** ~Awesome11**


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